Swimming is for Life

I have fallen into a joyful corner of Threads that is full of adults learning to swim. Some are nervous, some are looking for stroke improvement tips, and some are absolutely bursting with pride at how much they have learned so far. Interestingly, most are Black women.

At the other end of the spectrum, I went for a swim at the lake this week with some experienced old friends. And by old, I truly mean old. At 65, I was one of the youngest swimmers there.

But also friends of long-standing. I have been swimming with some of them for over two decades. Others are newer friends to me, but there were fun overlapping circles of acquaintanceship.

That swim was part of my practice to complete my fitness test so I could return to work. We swam about 2 km, and I did as many stretches of head’s up freestyle as I could. I hate sprinting head’s up freestyle in the required speed with burning of a thousand fiery suns.

Friends, I did the test on Tuesday and passed! (By the skin of my teeth). Soon I’ll be able to see all these women from my usual spot on the lifeguard chair, when I’m not swimming alongside them to keep working on getting faster.

Best of all, I’ll be able to start teaching again, and encouraging more adults and kids to enjoy the sport that we can continue to enjoy well into our senior years.