30 Favourite Things #11

When I was a child, one of my most favourite activities was swimming.  In Southern California – where I was born – the weather sort of necessitated some form of relief and for me, it was swimming.  I recall numerous times where, as a grade-schooler, I would walk home for lunch and I’d either eat my lunch in the pool or I would at least sit in the pool for a few minutes before returning to school.  We moved to another city and there I would walk to and from school each day and invariably walk straight into the pool after school.  The weather from late spring through the fall was very, very hot.

Now, we don’t have today the sort of pool my parents had for the different homes in which we lived when I was a child, but we do have a swimming pool and our children have sure enjoyed it very much.  As I was gardening last summer the thought came to me: am I never going to spend a summer afternoon swimming again?  Am I never going to jump into that pool or swim or float in an inner-tube or wear a mask and fins and swim around snorkling?     So, I decided that day to go swimming — much to the shock of my children (and my husband, too — though he knows I love swimming!), I just jumped in.  Ahhhh… it was wonderful and such great fun and refreshment.  

Sure, I was nervous and sure, I was sort of embarrassed and self conscious.  But I reckoned that I was here at home in the privacy of our yard and had my dress right there by the pool and the swimming suit was passable for me — not the very best, but certainly not at all the worst.  And so I went swimming. A number of times.   I asked myself why I hadn’t done it sooner — especially when the younger children were so delighted and begged me to stay and play in the pool with them!  It certainly made the day more fun (for them and me!) and the work more enjoyable with the reward of that cool water at the end!  I couldn’t think of a reason not to!

This past year has held a lot of questions and activities like that, for there have been many times where I wondered why I ever stopped doing some things and never started doing others.   I looked out at the yard today — the sun was shining brightly but it was very, very crisp and cold outside.  I looked over the seeds in the beautiful seed packets and I began to consider where and how I’d plant the different seeds.  I see the roses and other bushes and trees need the partially completed pruning to be finished.

I can almost feel the warmth of the sunshine as I sit near the woodstove’s blazing heat… and I can almost hear the children laughing and playing out there… and I can almost smell the Coppertone and the pool water.

So, if you haven’t done something you used to love to do and there’s even a remote possibility of doing it… don’t wait till you’re fifty!!  Go do it!