Swimming

I got up this morning and went for a swim….phew. I love water. I wonder what that’s all about? I have been a swimmer for as long I can remember..I first learned to swim at the Cheyenne YMCA with my mom. She hated water and didn’t much like swimming either but she took me to those lessons over and over again.

When I was five I joined the swim team at our local neighborhood club and was on swim teams from then on until I was 18. Early morning practices became a constant part of my summers.

So there’s something about the smell of chlorine that I find to be so comforting. I don’t usually feel the same way about oceans and lakes because I’m just a little bit afraid of what lurks beneath the surface! Although being part of the rhythm of the ocean or the river is truly a spiritual experience.

One summer while I was studying for my comprehensive exams that were part of my ph.d. I went windsurfing every day on Lake Mendota in Madison. I came up with an elaborate philosophy about the difference between windsurfing and sailing. I had been reading Plato and Aristotle and decided that windsurfing was to Plato as sailing was to Aristotle. Windsurfing was all about oneness -- a feeling of being connected to nature and to the wind. Sailing was about the parts, the way different different systems fit together. I was a much better windsurfer than a sailor.

That same summer I started going to a little clothing optional beach on the Mazomanie River near Madison. There was something about sitting in that shallow river and just letting the water rush past that made me feel completely at ease in the world. I haven't windsurfed or swum in a river in almost ten years. But I remember it like it was yesterday.