I have not been swimming in over a month. The last swimming entry on this blog is from July 8th. That was two days after I learned I would be miscarrying baby number 8. I’d stayed away from swimming, afraid of the biological onslaught to come.

But it didn’t come. And now I’ve just been punishing myself for nothing. Today I got the green light from the Dr. to go swimming again.

I can’t get up soon enough in the morning to go!

A month ago, the Y held a kids’ triathlon. It was for ages 8-14, and I thought my 14 year old son was my only child who could do this thing. I’ve been trying to get him interested in such a thing as a triathlon for years, and he thought it sounded good in theory.

But: he broke his bike and would have to ride his sister’s bike
He was working a corn detasseling job, and we weren’t sure if he’d be available to compete
If he wasn’t working, he didn’t have time to practice so he’d be competitive in the race
and the triathlon was the same day as his uncle’s wedding.

We could have overcome one or two of those obstacles, but all four together were too much. I agonized, but in the end, I decided against putting my son in the triathlon.

When the day actually came, he had to work, and my brother got married, and we threw him a reception, etc.

Our friend’s daughter actually did compete in the triathlon. I was so jealous on so many levels. I mean, where were these kinds of events when we were kids? And, why not an adult triathlon where you swam a 50, rode 2 miles on a bike, and then ran for 1 mile? A piece of cake! Also, her kid did it and my kid didn’t. It was killing me.

I asked my friend’s daughter how it went. She came in last. She wasn’t too happy about that, but she thinks she’ll try it again next year. I think that’s great. And probably the whole point of a triathlon for kids. How much more fit will she be as an adult, having competed in these as a child?

And next year, she will practice first!

I also found out that my friend Stephani, who competed in a triathlon earlier this year, had her children entered in this one. They apparently did really well.

This is my youngest son a few years ago. He is the only child of six who doesn’t love the water. The day of this picture, we’d gone to a local lake to swim on a hot day. He usually didn’t like the water, and would play in the sand at the shore. But the day was hot, and the water was comfortable, and shallow. So, after watching his older brothers and sisters frolic and play in the water, my young son tried to follow them. And he fell down. I picked him up in a hurry, but the look on his face says it all: ‘I can’t believe you let me fall!’

The moral of the story? The same as all the morals over here: teach your child to swim. Or something. Maybe there is no moral to this story. Ahem. And I’ll be sure he learns how to swim, too.

My Aunt is a born again swimmer. She is in her 60s, and is just now getting into swimming. After a lifetime as a non-swimmer, what made her want to learn?

She visited Zanzibar with friends. She talked about the beautiful beaches.

She talked about how hot it was, and how her friends all knew how to swim. It made her want to learn.

So, after she returned home, my Aunt started taking private swim lessons at the Y. She worked on freestyle breathing, and the breast stroke. She ran right up against her fear of deep water. She talked about switching to a shallower pool, just until she got the hang of swimming. Now she swims twice a week.

And she’s taken a second trip to Africa.

The world is full of possibilities.

Edited to add: Actually, she had learned to swim before, but didn’t like the water in her ears. Now she has ear plugs, and it make all the difference in the world.

It’s good to see some folks tackling open water swimming. Have a great weekend!

Once upon a time, we were broke. And I spent some of our last money on goggles. Three pairs, to be exact. I had four kids in swimming, and they all needed goggles except for the boy.

They were nice goggles, which lasted longer than they would have, since we quit swimming a few months later.

One by one, they started breaking or disappearing. First, my younger daughter broke her fancy goggle strap. Then she lost her goggles.

I started swimming after my kids quit the swim team. I had my own goggles, which I constantly adjusted while I swam. This came in handy while I was building up my stamina. I’d swim a 25 and stand at the deep end and defog or adjust my goggles.

After a few months of that, I started using my daughter’s goggles. They were cool, Nike goggles with fancy straps that didn’t constantly come loose. I wore them for years.

And then they mysteriously disappeared. Goggles are light-weight and easy to drop undetected. I hope whoever found them is getting some good use out of them. They were metallic shades. ..

My younger daughter wore my goggles at a friend’s above ground pool last week. They have disappeared.

Then my middle daughter’s goggles lost their integrity. The plastic by the nose is holding by a thread. She doesn’t wear them if she isn’t desperate.

So, yesterday, before the swim test, I broke down and bought my oldest daughter a pair of goggles. And. .. myself. I mean, I can’t start swimming again without goggles.

During the swim test, the little children were swimming. They tried for a while without goggles, but then my middle daughter came and used her big sister’s goggles, and the younger daughter actually took the baby goggles out of her baby sister’s hands. I saw how much they will actually try to swim if they are wearing goggles, so I broke down today and bought them both a new pair of goggles.

I was lamenting having lost so many pairs of goggles with my older son. He had no sympathy. “Goggles are like socks, Mom,” he told me.