{"id":2553,"date":"2023-09-11T18:26:48","date_gmt":"2023-09-11T18:26:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.todayatthelakeblog.com\/?p=2553"},"modified":"2023-09-11T18:26:48","modified_gmt":"2023-09-11T18:26:48","slug":"the-swim-i-needed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/?p=2553","title":{"rendered":"The Swim I Needed"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Monday, September 11, 2023, 7:22pm<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today at the sea, the water was choppy, the sun was shining, and the jellyfish were nowhere to be seen. Or so I thought. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I walked up to the dock I was excited to see a man swimming in the water. I shouted out to him and asked how the water was, and he said it was quite nice, not too cold. I asked about jellyfish, and he said he hadn\u2019t seen any. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I looked into the water near the ladder and didn\u2019t see any. I looked into the shallow kiddie swim area and didn\u2019t sea any. Then I got my gloves and shoes and snorkel on and lowered myself into the water with the ladder. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So happy to feel the cool water and know that I still don\u2019t need a wetsuit. I don\u2019t mind wearing it, but it\u2019s a pain in the butt to get on and off. Less gear is always better. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pointed myself in the direction of the diving platforms, and started my sloppy, floppy breast stroke. The water was tossing me around a bit, so I wasn\u2019t moving forward very quickly. Still, there weren\u2019t any jellyfish, which left me feeling so free. I could splash and swim and do my thing without worrying I was hurting them, without worrying one would flop onto my face again. Also, I wondered where they were. Where do they go when it gets choppy?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a diffuse sunbeam tunnel, so I reach my hands into it to see the light on my gloves. I chanted \u201cH, E, T, R, A,\u201d then \u201cTW, SC, SP.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Too Hot<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

It felt so nice to be in the cool water. Why if I never even run 98.6 (I\u2019m always 97) am I always so flipping hot. Is it hormones? Is it the extra weight I\u2019m carrying? Is it menopause. When the f am I don\u2019t with the madness? I\u2019ve put in eight hard years of sweating, hot flashes, not sleeping, and being overweight. I\u2019m sick of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who Comes to Mind<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The water is the only place I feel good. I like feeling weightless. I like how the water supports me if I want to float or invent new, weird strokes in new, weird positions. I treaded water for a few minutes so I could look back at the green park, then look out at the sea. I always think of that line, \u201cthe sea refuses no river,\u201d from Pete Townshend when I swim in the sea. And when I\u2019m in the lake I think of that line, \u201ccool, cool water running down my back,\u201d from the Jayhawks. Other times I remember Anne Waldman, \u201cwater that cleans as it goes.\u201d Songs and a few select poems feed me in a way that nothing else does. They give me connection, meaning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would not have made it through my teen years with out the Who. Nothing makes me feel nostalgic for Minnesota like the Jayhawks. And I share my favorite Waldman poem with two of my BFFs. They are poets. They think like poets. We need more of that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I swam back toward the dock, then paused partway to tread water a bit more. I wasn\u2019t sure how long I\u2019d been in the water, but I assumed I was close to my 30 minutes. Of course, as soon as I celebrated the lack of jellyfish on my outbound swim, one appeared on my return. It sort of tumbled right under me. Then another. Four strokes later another. Then two more. In total maybe 15. And most of them were pretty big. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I didn\u2019t make contact with any of them, so my sweep away stroke was effective. I paused to watch one of them, but the water was tossing both of us so before I could focus on it, the wave washed it away. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beach Sounds<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By the time I reached the dock there were lots of people around. An old man and a young woman, either father and daughter or grandfather and daughter, were sitting on the bench eating salads. There were five or six kids splashing around in the shallow area, chatting and yelling and enjoying themselves. There was a much younger boy wandering around in the shallow water, gently singing to himself. It filled my heart to hear him. He was singing in Swedish, so I have no idea what he was saying, but to me it was a perfect childhood (or just human) moment of ease, serenity. A minute later I was recording the sound of the water lapping the beach, and he jumped off the dock right into view. It’s sort of funny to see him appear on the screen. I’ll edit him out for this post, though. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was only in the water for 25 minutes! Seemed like longer because of the waves. That\u2019s ok. I got my clothes on over my suit, put my shoes on, and walked toward the diving platform to get some photos. The other kids had moved over there to play on that dock and take turns jumping into the water. I tried to exclude them from my arty shots. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jumping and Diving<\/h2>\n\n\n
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Eventually, I asked if it was ok if I took a photo. A boy said, ok. And he jumped off one of the high dives. Then a mother appeared, and we chatted. I apologized for giving her concern and told her I should have asked the kids if their parents were there. From a distance, she thought I was a man. We sorted it out. I suggested that she give me her email so I could send the photos to her. So she added it to my phone. I explained that I\u2019m here in the village to work on a book about swimming, so it was quite nice for me to chat with the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the kids remembered me from the other day. She was part of the group that I talked to at the gas station when I was looking for free wifi. She was doing dives off the dock and off one of the high boards. I was impressed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once I had the mother\u2019s email, the kids were shouting, “take a picture of me and send it to my mother.” So I did a couple of videos, then a group photo. Really sweet kids. I hope I see them again because it\u2019s really nice to interact and share the joy of the water. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

They asked if I knew how to swim, and I said I did. Then they said, why don\u2019t you jump in. So I took of my top and skirt and shoes, and I jumped in. I was telling them that I was a bit afraid of jumping and diving, then told them about my accident. I said, \u201cit\u2019s silly, but things scare me now.\u201d One of the boys said, \u201cI know what you are saying.\u201d Then told me that he has passed out after jumping off the highest platform once. Another boy said he was afraid of jumping off of the platform, and I said, me, too. One step at a time. <\/p>\n\n\n

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I think kids really like to interact with adults around fun activities. It was sweet to have a moment of vulnerability with them. They decided to swim to the other dock, and I said I was going to go home. I thanked them for talking to me, and they all told me to have a nice day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I walked over to the mom, who was sitting with two other parents, and let them know I would email the photos. I invited her to my talk on Friday, too. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now I am home. It\u2019s dark, and the laundry I did in the sink is still outside on the line. I\u2019m gonna leave it there because I\u2019m too tired to get up and go get it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lesson learned today: you really don\u2019t know what will happen in a day, in an hour. I rode to the beach today with a little bit of dread about swimming with jellyfish, and then I spent the first half of my swim alone! And I got to talk to some nice kids. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I left the park today, I could hear the kids saying, in an American accent, \u201coh my God\u201d again and again. It\u2019s what I said after I jumped in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you, sea. Thank you, kids. Thank you, Sweden. Sea ya tomorrow. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\nhttps:\/\/vimeo.com\/manage\/videos\/863293514\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Monday, September 11, 2023, 7:22pm Today at the sea, the water was choppy, the sun was shining, and the jellyfish were nowhere to be seen. Or so I thought.  When I walked up to the dock I was excited to see a man swimming in the water. I shouted out to him and asked how READ MORE<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":6954,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[6],"tags":[23,112,161,186],"class_list":["post-2553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-baltic-sea","tag-openwaterswimming","tag-sweden","tag-wildswimming"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/todayatthelake.blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/D92A45D1-880F-4E83-AAA7-B312F5744B18_1_105_c.jpeg?fit=768%2C1024&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2553"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2553\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6954"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/todayatthelake.blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}