Swimming & Lifeguarding

When I was a little kid, I loved to swim. I still do love to swim.

I took swimming lessons growing up- going to the YMCA on a Saturday morning and swimming was always fun. I tried basketball, soccer, and softball, too, but I was never any good at any of those (and thus they were never much fun... gymnastics and cheerleading are a whole different story).

I went to day camp (starting when I was 3 or 4 until I was 8) and then sleep away camp (starting when I was 8 and continuing till I was 16) and always went swimming. Most of the time at camp, there'd be the option of swimming lessons or recreational swimming; even when I was old enough that I no longer had to take swim lessons, I continued to do so, just because I liked it. I remember going to the pool after day camp was over in the evening, and going on weekends, just to goof around with my friends.

In 9th grade, I joined my high school's varsity swim team. I had never swam competitively before, and while I was never any good (as in- save for county championships senior year- I tended to come in last place), I could swim well enough to race. Swimming is such good exercise, and I loved being able to completely escape from everything during practice. If you're a runner, you might listen to your iPod while you train, but if you're a swimmer, unless you have one of those fancy waterproof MP3-player things (I've seen and heard of them but never knew anyone that actually had one), you're pretty much in your own mind. When he had long endurance sets, I'd pick an album- any album, but it had to be one I knew well- and get every song, in order, in my head. During my races, I remember feeling like all that mattered in the world was my race- the lane of the pool I was in, swimming the race I was swimming, was all that I cared about at that moment. Any worried I had with school, my social life, or my parents completely disappeared.

I taught swim lessons at a day camp for two summers, but now I just lifeguard. I lifeguard an average of four days a week at school; sometimes I'll see people I know from class or my old dorm, and I've even seen one of my professors (yeah, it's kinda awkward), but mostly I don't know any of the people I see (although I do recognize people, since the same people tend to come on the same day and time every week). It's so weird being around the pool so much without actually swimming. I miss swimming, but at the same time I'm glad I'm not on my college's varsity swim team, since I wouldn't be able to do anything else.