Missed my knee rehab appointment due to horrendous traffic on the 5.
When I finally got home and decided to go swim laps - my first trip to the pool since moving to San Diego. As a kid, I spent entire summers at the community pool. My mom's office was across the street and overlooked the pool. Every year she made me buy a neon colored swimsuit so that she could look out her office window and make sure I wasn't swimming in the deep end. Clever! My dad generally went to pool with us on the weekends, but my Mom often took me back to the pool after dinner during the work week. (In retrospect, my Dad had a more physical job so he was probably tired.) Those evenings at the pool with my mother are incredibly happy memories.
I swam competitively for years. My theory is that most competitive swimmers have vivid imaginations. Otherwise swimming lap after lap is excruciatingly boring. There's no iPod, no one to talk to, no distractions. Swimmers have to manufacture their own amusements. On the other hand, I was never all that fast and maybe if I had focused on my form I would have improved. Luckily I swam butterfly and IM, since there are so few girls in those events I did pretty well.
As I was lumbering up and down the pool this evening, it stuck me that this pool is a lot like the one in my imagination - palm trees, perfect temperature. I'm even allowed to swim in the deep end if I want. It was much more enjoyable than the 5 mile walk I had planned.
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