You’ve heard the saying, “the world is your stage.” Well, my stage was any body of water- from the smallest to the biggest- swimming pool, pond, or ocean. I could swim even before I could walk. I really loved swimming because I could do everything that I couldn’t do on land- like jumping, running and handstands!
Most of the time, when I was swimming, you would only see my feet, because I was so busy doing handstands! I really loved swimming in Olympic sized pools because they usually had black lines on the bottom of them, and I liked to go in the shallow end of the pool and pretend I was a gymnast and do a balance beam routine. Boy, I was really glad there was water all around me! I’d have broken every bone in my entire body or (I know this sounds morbid) I’d probably be dead! I’m just being honest here folks, I’m just calling a spade a spade! As much as I would like to be Kerri Strug, who helped the American women’s gymnastics team secure and bring home the gold medal…sadly, I AM NOT! In Heaven, I’m going to ask Kerri Strug to be my gymnastics coach! Will any of you (I was going to say women, but I just remembered men do gymnastics too!) help me round up recruits for a gymnastics tournament in Heaven? Please, it would be so much fun! Ok, ok, ok, enough dreaming and fantasizing! Back to swimming! I promise!
Another reason you couldn’t see me when I was swimming a lot is that I love to swim along the very bottom! I’m originally from Florida. When we lived there, we had an in-ground pool. It was nine feet deep at one end and three feet deep in the shallow end. Both ends were the perfect depth for all my pool shenanigans! I loved to swim at the very bottom! My sister and I would swim together at the very bottom of the pool from side to side. Another game which I really enjoyed was diving for pennies. We would wait for them to sink to the bottom and then we would go retrieve them. That game worked whether there were lots of kids playing or I was by myself. I had a friend who used to come over a lot to go swimming. We had an inner tube and we would each sit on a side of the tube with our legs stuck down the hole of the tube and see how far we could make it across the pool without tipping over.
I liked the feeling of being able to lie on the bottom of pool, so I would ask someone to stand on my back so I wouldn’t float to the top. I know it sounds really weird! I was a weird kid! I still am! You should try it (being weird) it can be really fun!
One of the most memorable times I had was actually in a motel pool. I was walking in the pool carrying my little nephew in my arms. I kept walking back and forth from side to side and my sweet little nephew fell asleep right in my arms in the pool! I couldn’t walk carrying small children on land, it was too dangerous, but in the water I could do just about anything!
When I was little, and before it became difficult for me to go there, we used to go to Maine every summer for vacation. We would stay in a cabin in the woods and the cabin was on a great, big pond. In fact, the name of the pond is “Great Pond!” I used to love to swim in Great Pond. The closer I’d swim to the bottom the colder it would get! Please allow me to get off the topic of swimming for exactly one minute and one minute only and say that a person can also do some of their best fishing in Great Pond! Now back to swimming, aren’t you all proud of me? I promised it would only be a one-minute tangent and it was!
Ocean swimming can be fun when you have the perfect ocean day, but those happen few and far between! On one of those perfect days, once I get out past the breakers (with an awful lot of help) it can be very fun! I love being able to jump over small, controlled waves. I’ll be completely honest with you…I have gone to jump over a small, controlled wave only to be slapped right in the face with it! All in the name of fun. I love waiting for just the right moment for a breaking wave to get close enough to me so I can jump to the bottom of the ocean while the crashing wave rumbles over me!
On rough days, ocean swimming can be dangerously fun. Waves are coming one right after another. It can be challenging to stay on top of the water just to breath! Another thing you have to contend with on rough days is the very strong under current! Rough days in the ocean can be exciting, but they force me to resign my career as a water gymnast, due to having to be on alert for waves and the undertow!
So, if you find yourself in the same situation that I am in, not being able to move a lot on land, try swimming. You will be able to do things you only dreamed of doing, like…winning the gold in the Olympics with your gymnastics balance beam routine.
Comments
14 responses to “Swimming”
Loved the descriptions and pictures of you in the water, especially in Maine at Great Pond! You look so happy there, in your element. Wicked good swimmer, too!
Thanks!!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Your blog is teaching me a lot. Not just about swimming and running marathons on a bike, getting lost on a bus and all the other wild things you do (I didn’t need to learn you were crazy, I already knew that!), but hidden in your writings is an inside look at the challenges those with physical diabilities endure. You have revealed a thousand and one difficulties you face every day that I never thought about. The sentence about getting to walk, holding an infant till they fell asleep, struck me hard. I’m grateful God has helped you find freedom and strength to live out your journey with grace and truth. You’ve taught me a lot and helped me be a better follwer of Christ.
Thanks, Jan, you are always so encouraging and sweet in your comments!!!! Your comments really minister to me!!!!
Cate, the freedom you have known swimming: aren,t you glad you ” jumped in “. Your body wraped around ,while your legs did squats, and the arms lead the way as the head bobed and turned. You were a famous dancer and a beautiful tropical fish traveling through cool and warm water. Wow, you loved it all. Such good reading for us all.
xoxo
Aunt Mandy
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!!!! I really love all the support you have given me!!!!
As I contemplated this post, I pondered the various deeper lessons contained within your compelling tales of swimming. A well-worn quote from the religious philosopher Alan Watts may express a notable insight relevant to Christians:
“To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don’t grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.” (Or in your particular case Cate, you might relax and lie on the bottom of the pool–but the faith lesson is still the same!)
Thanks!!!!
Wow Cate I didn’t know that you were such a good swimmer and very fast as well. I’m so happy that you have been able to do so many fun things with your family. God bless you sister hope to see you soon because I really really miss you!!
My ever faithful responder, Ladd. Thanks I really love and appreciate you!!!!
We are at Great Pond right now!!😘
I hope you all have a wonderful vacation!!!! I have good memories from the time Abbey, Joyce and I went to Maine with you all that one year!!!!
Cate, I loved your blog! You made me laugh so hard. I think I know someone wanting to do world class gymnastics with you in Heaven. Marlene will be the first to volunteer. She also loves swimming and she can stand and walk perfectly in water with no back pain. I can hear God now: Ok Cate and Marlene! Slow down, there is no rush, you have all eternity to swim, do gymnastics, and run track! I will likely be on the sidelines offering the Root beer to cool off.
It will absolutely thrill me to be on a water gymnastics team with, Marlene!!!! IT WOULD BE SO MUCH FUN!!!!