Poolside Ponderings: Floater vs. Swimmer

We got to talking about swimming this morning. I must have been 8 or 9 when Mom put me in swimming lessons at our local YMCA. I don't remember much about it except that I didn't learn how to swim.

Next up was a guy named McKinnon who gave private lessons at his house. And he was brutal. Very militant and scared the crap out of me. But he taught me enough that when I'd go to local pools, I could swim across them with confidence. So much confidence, in fact, that on a float trip down Belt Creek on inner tubes, I opted to not wear a life jacket. Big mistake. I ended up going through some rapids hanging onto the inner tube for dear life. I didn't die. But I did change my policy on devices that make me float.

I was curious, so I looked up some "swim stats" this morning. 43% of women have taken lessons. 34% of men.

It's a fantastic exercise if you can do it. Even though I can swim some, I can't go back and forth in a pool twenty times.

I'm more of a "floater" than a swimmer. Pictures that you see of me on the Flakes Trips are of me floating. Floating on my back at the "Quiet Pool". Floating on one of those blue mats that they have around their pools. Or floating next to my cold beverage that is also floating. Amazon Prime has inflatable drink koozies, and they are awesome and cheap. And, as it turns out, quite the conversation starter.