My daughter has been working as a swim teacher for a little over a month now. It has been on the job training from the beginning, learning from an experienced teacher, working as a team.

But today she taught solo. Her experienced coach/teacher out with the flu, my daughter was a little nervous to take the wheel at first. But it was parent’s day, the last day of the swim session, so she only had to teach for 15 minutes per class and then announce free swim. A piece of cake. And as a bonus, she got to work with the advanced class for the first time, reminding her of her buddy coaching years at the old swim club.

In other developments, we are working it out so we can enroll our 5 year old in one of her swim classes. I better get on that immediately, if the swim session starts next week! Also, swim teachers get free lifeguard certification training, so my daughter will soon be a lifeguard as well.

Another life dream realized.

This commercial is sweet even without the sound! (that’s the way my computer rolls)

My husband and I have a friend from Kenya who talked about crocodiles being the reason he couldn’t swim. This guy didn’t let a thing like that stop him. That’s what I’m talking about!

We’ve talked about some of the barriers to swimming: generations of non-swimming, lack of access, poor facilities, disinterest, the hair thing. . . but sometimes you can get sick in the pool. When I was a child, I got swimmer’s ear just about every time I went swimming.

It was enough to make me think swimming wasn’t for me.

Swimmer’s ear is a painful infection of the ear canal. It occurs when water stays in the ear canal and washes away the protective wax. That’s the perfect environment to grow bacteria.

If you get swimmer’s ear, call a Doctor, who will either prescribe antibiotic drops, or use a wick. A wick is a tiny sponge with the swimmer’s ear medicine on it. The wick would stay in until it was finished.

You need to stay out of the water 7-10 days after getting swimmer’s ear. I had no problem with that as a child–good riddance! But now, that would be quite a blow. I’d rather head swimmer’s ear off at the pass. One way to ward it off is to put drying drops in your ears after swimming. Ask your Doctor first.

Swimming is like two separate sports up here in Michigan. There’s summer swimming, where you hope against hope for a warm-hot summer so you can partake in lake swimming, or get your money’s worth on that outdoor pool. This is more splashy, fun swimming, unless your swim club practices in a local lake.

Then there’s winter swimming. Not for the faint at heart, especially if you are trying to protect your delicate black hair. Then we’re talking wearing scarves and winter hats home from the pool and rinsing and drying it at home.

I know there are some polar bear folks, but swimming in a pool is cold enough for me in the winter! It’s reminds me of the fortitude to splash in Lake Michigan, which never gets above 60 degrees in the summer. I’m not saying that the Y pool is that cold, but it doesn’t matter how warm the pool is once you hit the sub-arctic air with your wet hair.

It gives me such a thrill of accomplishment. I have defeated the weather! I have pushed through and gotten my workout anyway. I have boosted my immune system!

I remember the days of going to winter swim meets. We’d bundle up to face the cold, drive to the meet all bunched up in the car, then sweat in the hot natatorium for several hours before bundling back up to head home. The swim kids weren’t sweating in the natatorium, mind you, just the spectators. I wouldn’t care how cold it was outside afterwards; anything was better than that sweating in the stands.

I had no idea how robust that winter swimming makes you. How a cold doesn’t stand a chance against chlorine. And don’t forget lung capacity–something that’s grown in leaps and spades since I’ve been swimming.

So that’s one thing to look forward to as the days shorten and the chill in the air grows.

“The Most Rewarding Thing I’ve Ever Done.” from Jayson Jackson on Vimeo.