Was thinking about some times of swimming. Had a lot of fun at the pool in the summer playing games in the water. Great memories. Then a few memories crept in of being in water that were not as fun. Actually, not fun at all. Not dangerous, mind you. I do not like watching shows where someone is stuck under water for a period of time. I find myself holding my breath while the person is swimming, then I have to look away to breath again. Here are three memories.

Let’s start with the bad. Six of us boys walked to school each morning, taking the path through the woods and past the local pond. There was a deep part on one side of the path, then there was a shallow part on the other side of the path. One morning the shallow part appeared frozen, so one of our friends tested the ice. He was out there a ways when my little brother decided to go out there too. I said that it was not a good idea. We heard the ice cracking, so our friends made a quick exit sliding his way off the ice. My little brother stood still. So I had to go get him. We both broke through the ice so that is was just above our knees, then trudged to school wet. I got a scolding from the teacher that I should know better than to go on the ice.

Now here is the awful episode. I love body surfing waves, and I feel that I got pretty good at it. My kids were young when we went to the Outer Banks one summer. The waves were fairly big, too strong for my kids, but I ventured out and rode a few in towards the shore with my kids enjoying watching the fun. When a really good wave came up, I lunged for the top and caught it perfect. Stretching my arms out for the ride, I looked ahead and saw all of the water be sucked into the bottom of the wave beneath me, leaving a view of the rocks. Too late, I went right down, slamming my stomach onto the rocks. After I regained my wind to stand up, I was left with a severely red belly.

The worst was at the pool one summer when I had just become a teenager. I did one of my flips off the diving board to impress the beautiful life guard a few years older than me, and it was masterful. I entered the water with Olympic style hands, fingers pointed for minimal splash. And I was instantly desuited. I know that is not a word, but suddenly my trunks were at my ankles. After pulling them on, I swam gently to the surface thinking that I could pretend nothing happened. Placing my hand on the side of the pool, I risked a glance up to the lifeguard chair. She was dying with laughter in her seat. The worst. My advice is this: when going into the water, walk slowly if you don’t want to get too wet, watch out for departing water, and hold on to your shorts.

Hope that you have a Happy Friday.