Both the indoor pools where I work were closed for maintenance over the summer holidays, and I decided to leave the shifts at outdoor pools to students saving for tuition. I knew I had lots of other options for swimming. Did I take advantage of all of them? No, I did not.
I got to one lane swim at a nearby indoor pool. I swam in the Ottawa River and in Gatineau Park once each. I did manage to get to the Pond and to a small private lake. I never went to the NCC River House, which is lovely. I missed my chance to swim in Dow’s Lake in the first summer it has been open to swimmers in decades. In sum, although I swam some, it was nowhere near enough to feel like my usual water baby self.
This past weekend I went to the cottage with my friend Melanie. The trip was too short and we ended up almost not going for a swim because we had so many other things we wanted to do. In the end, we squeezed in one short swim in rather chilly water and it felt great.
As I swam, I noticed that all the little improvements I had been working on have actually helped my stroke. I felt like I might be going just a tiny bit faster. Good thing too! I had my first lifeguarding shift on Tuesday morning and skills testing last tonight.
Over the summer, I had wondered about whether I wanted to continue lifeguarding. It is physically demanding, and I wasn’t sure I could keep it up with my heart murmur. But as I saw familiar faces in the pool, and watched the joyous singing during aquafit, I felt a renewed determination to keep on swimming. The water is where I belong, and I love helping other people enjoy it too.
The next time I doubt myself, I need to follow the instruction on the sign Melanie bought me for the cottage and
