I could get by with pretending I kinda knew what I was doing, but I really had no clue. I wasn't going to drown (to the best of my knowledge), but I wasn't exactly swimming either. I was faking a really good doggy paddle!
In college I went on a trip to Lake Powell with a few friends, and my future husband. It was an awesome trip and we rented a boat. Lucky for me growing up, we had a boat, and I did know how to waterski. How it was possible I learned how to waterski, without knowing how to swim, is beyond me. But, I did. We had a fantastic time, but there was one friend with us, who couldn't do either. He was deathly afraid of the water and he couldn't even doggy paddle.
As much as we tried to coax him into the water, we did finally get him out on a life raft. Much to our chagrin, we had no clue the raft had a hole in it! We got out fairly far, and suddenly realized our friend was struggling to stay afloat! The raft had gone almost completely flat! We got him back safely and then after a few beers decided he needed to try water skiing! (Sorry Dad, now I know why you wouldn't let us take the boat). Obviously we were not thinking straight. He must have been feeling pretty good at this point, because he did agree that he would try.
We gave him five words of advice!
"Whatever you do, when you fall, LET GO OF THE ROPE!!"
We made him repeat this over and over until we were convinced he would let go of the rope. (Again, we were not thinking straight.)
As he slips on his skis, and stays afloat this time, due to a nicely fitted life preserver, another friend puts the boat into high gear! After a few tries, our skiing friend gets on his feet!
Wow!!! We were thrilled!! ..... For about 2 seconds!!
Next thing you know, he's down, and of course you know what happened next. He DID NOT LET GO OF THE ROPE!!! Bouncing on his butt approximately three times across the water he finally does a full face plant! The rope is finally yanked out of his hands! We were all laughing and thinking this was about one of the funniest things we had ever seen! And completely wondering why our awesome words of advice failed him! Why didn't he let go of the rope? ... Duh, because he didn't know how to swim!!!
Looking back at this, I still laugh, but geese, how dangerous this was! Luckily our friend was not seriously injured. And seeing this experience, I never want my kids to be in this situation. We were having so much fun, and he did, too, but how much more fun he could have had if he knew how to swim. And let go of the rope for that matter! We are lucky he didn't hit his face on his skies and that we didn't need to take him to the ER!
Fast forward 32 years and here is another picture of me.
This was at the TRI for the cure race last year. Here I am about to take off on the swim leg of the race. I still am not a good swimmer, and honestly I just about croaked trying to swim this event. The water was not what I was expecting, and while people were hitting and kicking me in the face, I was thinking to myself, "Why in the heck am I doing this?" I'm not sure I even ever want to do it again. I hated every minute of it, but I did it to prove a point. TO MYSELF. That I could do it! It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, but I did it.
What's one of the hardest things you can think of fitness wise? I bet you can do it, too, if you put your mind to it.
Here is a picture of my daughter today at her swim lesson.
I honestly don't care if she never wants to swim a day in her life, but only AFTER she learns how to swim. Right now she loves swimming and I do want her to learn to do more than just doggy paddle. We also believe physical fitness is important for her to learn. If she wants to do a different sport, so be it. I had an easier time learning how to do a backflip in gymnastics, than I had learning how to swim. She may have an easier time learning to kick box. Whatever. And if she doesn't want to play sports, then she needs to learn to do something physical to stay healthy. Dance, walking, hiking, anything! We believe in physical activity and I hope you do too. Even if you can just get yourselves up off the couch to walk around the block. That's great! Just try it. It's hard, but you can do it and so can your kids!!
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