Wednesday, May 25, 2011

365 Project - Day 145 - Just Keep Swimming...Just Keep Swimming...

During my childhood, my family spent a little over seven years living in Bird City, Kansas, a town so small that the only real entertainment was Friday night football games, Bingo nights at the Senior Citizen Center, and long summer days spent at the local swimming pool. I lived for the opening of the pool every year, and spent darn near every waking moment I could in the cool chlorinated water.

In the mornings I attended swimming lessons and swim team practice. In the afternoons I would beg my babysitters to please please please please please either take me to the pool, or let me go and hang out there for the day with my friends. Some evenings, they even had night swimming, and I would convince Mom to let me go back after dinner until the lifeguards finally kicked me out and said it was time to close up shop for the night. It was always a sad day for me when the summer ended and the pool was drained for another long winter.

After we moved back to Nebraska, I lost touch with swimming. I was getting older, and instead of spending my summer days at the local pool, I spent it working part-time jobs, attending summer band and writing camps, and hanging out with my friends. When I did hit the water, it was usually at the Sand Pits just north of town or to the lake with friends.

Now that Steven and I have joined the YMCA, I am absolutely loving being able to swim again, even though the first day I spent an hour swimming laps and thought I was going into cardiac arrest. Hell, I knew I was out of shape, but that was ridiculous! It has been so long since I have been on a steady exercise routine that I'd forgotten how great it feels to be tired after a good workout, my muscles loose and rubbery and throbbing from the exertion. And I'd forgotten how great it feels to take a hot shower and sleep soundly afterward.

If only Cadence would take the hint and start sleeping through every night too.

Today's 365 Project entry is dedicated to one of my favorite forms of exercise. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming.

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