Here's my 4 Stories about Swimming:
1.) Camping: Every year my family and I would go camping near Lake Michigan. It was my favorite vacation. And every year the moment we go there I wanted to go to the beach right away, but we had to set up everything. The next day we definitely went to the beach. I loved the beach. Swimming to me normally involved a floatation device, such as a inner tube. So I wasn't much of a swimmer. I would float out in the water and have fun doing it, with the small worry of floating too far out and end up on the other side of the lake, so I'd usually stay where it was semi shallow. We swam about every day. Also on these trips we would go to meijers and and get more food or whatever we needed. I always got a something new for either school ( got a book bag one year) or a toy and an ice cream cone, normally Super man flavored. Well at the checkout I was looking at the papers and there were those fake news, and one said sea monster in Lake Michigan, I was freaked out. (Oh and an important fact to the story, this was when I was about 7 or 8, I was pretty young). The next time we went to the beach I did not swim. I went to this little ankle deep chanel from the lake, but that was it. I looked out into the water to see if I could see anything, but didn't I was scared. I slowly came to realization that it was ok to swim in the lake, everyone else was. And by the end I did go back.
2.) Canoeing: Every year there is a canoe trip for the band students. Being new to the band I was involved in a lot of activities in 9th grade. We got to our desitination, I wasn't sure what to do with the bag I brought with the change of clothes and towel so I brought it with me. I got into the canoe with my friend, and we were off. It wasn't too bad at first. Since I can't actually swim (I can float and kind of swim) I was a tad nervous. It was fun too, till we tipped over... I was soaked and scared, especially trying to hoist myself back into the canoe. It was embarrasing. And all of my extra clothes got wet. I think it was the most embarassing water experience ever. I got over it, of course.. But to this day I will never canoe again.
3.) Lessons: When I was young, probably around 6-9 maybe, I took swimming lessons. I am quite shy and don't really feel comfortable in swim suits (then, getting better now). And changing into them in a locker room (I always went into a bathroom stall) was the worse. So swimming lessons weren't off to a good start, since I couldn't wear my usual t-shirt in the pool. I remember learning the things, swimming with the foam board, being extremely nervous about jumping in (still am), and more things. I do enjoy swimming in pools, at my own pace and for fun. Lessons were not fun. And sadly I did not pass... And I did not try again. Swimming lessons weren't really my thing, clarinet lessons however I did enjoy, but that's another story.
4.) Comfortable: Growing up, other than when I was little, about 3rd grade and up, I also wore a t-shirt swimming. I just wasn't super comfortable wearing a tight swim suit in public. Even though people of all shapes and sizes wear them, I would not. With my youth group, in my preteen age, we went to an amusement park (like Cedar Point, but it wasn't). And in the group was a boy I liked since forever, but we were friends, pretty good friends (and that's it). Well we were going to go on a water slide together, but you could only wear a swim suit on this, he was also a t-shirt wearer, so we both took them off and went down, then quickly put them back on when we got done. I was not liking that, especially that it was with a boy that I was kinda liking. I was so glad in high school at the youth group I went to it was a rule to wear t-shirts, if you wore a bikini style swim suit (for modest reasons, especially around the boys). Up till last year i've been alittle more comfortable, I wore shorter sleeves on t-shirts (still haven't done the tank tops yet), and thanks to a friend, I can wear swimsuit tops (normally the tankini ones) with out a t-shirt! It's kind of freeing.. I know that wasn't really about swimming, but swim wear.
So those are my stories!
Thanks for reading!
-Jen
Great stories - I especially loved the one about the sea monster - it's funny how even as an adult, you can totally remember those feelings we all had as kids of being terrified of the big bad "something" !!!
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