I never learned to swim as a child. I grew up in the city and outside of a few lake excursions during summer vacation, the only water experience I had was either in the bathtub or back yard kiddie pool. During one of these lake experiences I nearly drowned falling off one of those plastic floats. I didn't realize I had floated over my head. So between that experience and knowing a childhood friend who drowned while trying to save another kid I pretty much set myself up never to list swimming as one of my physical activities.
When I hit the ninth grade, we moved near the ocean. In fact it was close enough to bike to, and I spent most of my teen years at the beach, sunning myself, definitely not swimming.
Oh I tried off and on over the years especially if I had access to a pool, but as I got older the fear deepened and I was too embarrased to take lessons thinking I was too old to do so. Besides that there were not too many opportunities to be alone in a hotel or gym pool so it wasn't really feaible. I wouldn't dare in front of others to flounder around in the pool.
So I made a decision early on that my children would learn how to swim while they were young. I spent many summers at our local beach while they were little (it's a tough job and someone has to do it) making sure they had Red Cross lessons every summer. Afterwards we'd stick around for a few hours so they could practice what they learned. And I could practice my tan.
It didn't take long before all three boys could swim and easily passed thru the Red Cross course over a period of two or three summers. In addition to that Bobby had to take some really tough testing proving his swimming prowness during his Boy Scout years. I remember one year in particular he had to take some stringent tests to be considered an expert swimmer and he passed with flying colors. Not all his friends were so lucky. But then again, he's always been a good test taker. I felt really good that he could swim so well.
So guess what I'm doing now that I'm in Florida? I'm teaching myself to swim.
Yep. And I'm starting to get it. Really get it. It's about time.
The plan works like this: my husband and I go for a bike ride every night after work. This is anywhere between 6-9 miles. Near the end of the ride we start looking for an empty pool. We usually check out the brand new neighborhoods and one in particular where there is a brand new pool but no neighbors yet. That's always our best bet. We strip (not totally), jump in the empty pool and while he does laps I work on my swimming. We then hop on our bikes totally refreshed and head for home dripping wet. It's great!
At first it was awful. I was terribly winded and not feeling very good about it. But I kept at it and in just a short time am seeing some results. He gives me a few pointers to work on and I spend the time practicing while he does his laps. We both have improved. The first night he could barely do three laps and was terribly winded as well. He's now up to 10 laps without stopping and I can swim two times across the pool doggie paddle style.
I still can't tread water and am trying to do the breast stroke but am terrible at it. But right now it's all about gaining confidence in the water and knowing that I can at least swim a little hopefully enough to save myself if I had to. Hahaha...as long as I have a point b to go to. Otherwise I'd be sunk!