Why a swimming blog? Well, for some reason, I’m passionate about swimming. I get what the deal is with swimming, even if it’s hard to explain. Maybe if I go back and recount my story it will make more sense.

When I was in Kindergarten, I went to a private school. We went swimming every Friday. I remember being scared to death, and dreading Fridays. Once, I even made myself throw up so I didn’t have to swim. It wasn’t swimming so much as going up and down the pool with a kickboard.

Then I remember going to the Y with my family when I was in the first grade. I watched a man dive off the side of the pool. That looked cool, I thought. Let me try! I hit the water hard, SPLAT! I found out about belly flops the hard way. I didn’t know what I had done wrong.

Around 4th grade, I found myself in another swim class. This time we did something unique—we swam up and down the pool with kickboards. My friend Charlotte had a different swimming story. Her parents threw her in the pool as a baby, and she swam around like a fish.

I wanted to learn how to swim so bad I could taste it in my mouth. Yet I kept getting older and older, and it just didn’t seem to click. What did a kickboard have to do with actual swimming?

to be continued. . .