When I was a kid swimming was not of great importance to my family. I did get sent to swimming lessons which were held at the beach on the outskirts of Beaver Dam. We didn’t have a wonderful pool available to us, so this is where we went. I remember there being a lot of rain dates and cold weather. Consequently, I did not learn to swim for whatever reason. This would probably be the first item to accomplish on my bucket list at an early age.
When I became a teenager it became important to learn to swim as there was an island in the middle of the beach. This was the destination for all the cool guys, a meeting place for the accomplished swimming kids. I desperately wanted to be able to swim to that island since one of my boyfriends often frequented the island. He was gorgeous, tanned, and did a fabulous swan dive off the diving board.
Well, I never at that time did get to the island, but when I was twenty-one, married, my younger sister was a lifeguard at the new YMCA pool in town. This was my golden opportunity to take swimming lessons and my husband and I did this together. I did learn to swim. I never got that real comfortable feeling of knowing how to swim as learning at an older age seemed detrimental. Things don’t seem to come as easily when you are older.
My highlight of learning to swim was topped off when I was finally able to swim to the island at the beach. My sister took me out there and said, “Go for it.” I sort of panicked when I realized I couldn’t touch the bottom, there were no sides like on a pool to grab onto. So, coming to the island I panicked as there were a couple of guys utilizing the ladder to get up. I panicked as I now had to tread water and grabbed the neck of one of these horrified teenagers and flailed around.
Needless to say, this was quite embarrassing for both me and my sister. But, I got to the island and I must have gotten off even though I don’t remember that.
One of the first things off my bucket list. Thank God!
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