SWIM OR DROWN!!!

Since I thought it best to learn to swim, since the girls were out in the deep water, I took swimming lessons at the YWCA.

These lessons were taught by the same teachers that taught our girls to swim. They were excellent teachers. However, at the time I thought I was going to drown.

This is how it went. They taught as much as they could, and then it was time to test our skills to get our deep water badge. We had to swim the entire length of the pool to accomplish this.

Well I decided I would start in the deep water and swim to the shallow end. This didn't work because I always ran out of steam by the time I got to the end and knowing I was in the shallow water, I stood up and couldn't make it.

Then I decided that I would start in the shallow end next to the edge of the pool. Should I run out of steam and not be able to make it to the end, I still had the lifeline of the edge to grab and hang onto. This didn't work either, because I had the crutch so close to me, that sure enough I ran out of energy and grabbed my lifeline.

There was only one recourse that I could take to get my badge. It was to start in the shallow end of the pool in the middle of the pool. That way I didn't have any lifeline to fall back on. Both teachers agreed that they would come in the pool to rescue me if I couldn't make it to the end.
You want to bet on that!!!!!

This was a good plan until I got down in the deep water (with nothing to grab) and nobody was rushing in to rescue me as they had said.

The teachers just yelled at me to get my head back in the water and swim!!! Since it was either swim or drown, I started paddling again. I MADE IT AND GOT MY BADGE! They were two good teachers after all.

When the girls were young, I volunteered to be a counselor at the 4-H camp. We had to swim a certain length of the lake to be able to be a counselor on the canoes. I wanted to go on the canoes and so I got my band for my wrist after I succeeded in swimming the length required. Today, I am lucky to swim a little ways in the deep water, but I do stay always in the deep end of the pool, since it is less crowded.

Wisdom--You never know what you can do, but always try to stretch yourself to learn more. One never is to old to learn new things. Swimming is good exercise for a healthy heart.