Bonding with the blue

Ever since my son nearly drowned, I have stayed away from the pool. Not because I fear water, but because I just couldn’t bring myself to go in. So when a friend told me she had bonded with the blue, I knew I had to make peace with Water, and do it NOW.

There were dozens of reasons not to – I was in office, I haven’t been getting enough sleep and was drowsy, my swimming costume was close to falling apart, my cap was missing – but I decided to ignore all of them, left early, changed into the threadbare costume and gingerly stepped in.

The water exactly how I remembered it – cool, inviting, friendly. My body knew exactly what to do, and the slight numbness that settled in my arms during the second lap disappeared completely by the sixth. I have never done more than a dozen laps before – today I comfortably did twenty. And when I got out, my drowsiness had vanished, and I was feeling more perky than I do after my Sunday lie-in.

I owe myself many more hours in the pool, even if it kills me to schedule them in.