Jumping into the Deep End

I am taking swimming lessons. 

Yes, you read that right.  Swimming lessons.  Like blowing bubbles in the water, learning how to float swimming lessons.  I'm in my mid thirties and thought that I was the only adult in America who didn't know how to swim. This is a big deal.  Signing up for simple swimming lessons shouldn't seem like such a big thing, but for me, this is huge.

Last summer, we were at Bear Lake with my sisters and their families.  The lake glistened so blue and inviting and yet there I sat on the beach.  My young kids, Leo who was five at the time and Amy, who was three, were out jumping on a trampoline in the lake and then jumping into the water with their dad.  My husband took me out on the jetski but I couldn't enjoy it because the fear of the water filled me with dread.  The kids fearlessly kayaked and I was frustrated.  A full year later, I am finally signing up for lessons.


I have strung together excuses for a long time.  I kept telling myself, oh I'm too sick from pregnancy.  Heb's work is too stressful right now, I can't get away.  I have a newborn and can't take the time.  And on and on.  It was something I said that I should do, that I needed to but never did.  I knew exactly where to take lessons, how to sign up for them but just didn't do it.  At the core, it wasn't any of the excuses that held me back, it was the fear. 

We were at a local water park a couple of weeks ago and Leo went down the big slide.  I stood there at the end watching him and something just snapped.  It was there I decided that I was done watching and that I was finally going to do something about it.  I was not going to miss out anymore. 

I've never been one who enjoyed the water.  As a child, I took lessons but never really caught on and spent much of my youth in the shallow end.  My family was not a "water family" and so it wasn't such a big deal that I never mastered swimming. 

Here I am, half way through the course and feeling like I am finally making progress.  The pride of taking action has filled me all week and makes me want to do more.  I don't want to hold back anymore.  As the lessons have gone on, I feel the fear of it all less and less and wonder why I didn't do it sooner.  Here's to taking the steps and facing the fears.  I can finally say that I'm doing it and I'm so proud.

Art in the City

On Saturday, Heber went out to get his hair cut.  He always goes to a nice salon down in Occoquan because he has rather complicated hair and they can actually get it right.  When he walked in, he had a present for me, a new hair curling rod set.  I was completely surprised.  He is a very thoughtful person, but we rarely buy gifts for each other like that.  I loved it and it made me feel so special.

That afternoon, we cashed in a favor and dropped the kids off with some friends.   We went into the National Gallery of Art in DC.  We'd been there just a few weeks ago with the kids and wanted to return to spend more time to see the art.  The colors and textures inspire me and the good company didn't hurt either.


Our original restaurant choice ended up being closed so we picked another on a whim.  It was a Spanish tapas restaurant, Jaleo, and turned out to be so good.  With tapas, they are small plates that you share the food.  Every single plate we ordered had just the right combination of textures and flavors.  Heber's favorite was the mashed potato and chorizo sausage.  Mine was a fried pork and potato dish but it was all good.  I am a notoriously bad orderer, which means that I rarely like what I order but we didn't have that problem there.
Trying new things together brightens up my life.  It's been a wild week.  It hasn't been overly busy with scheduled things, just the daily life of trying to care for a new baby, meeting the demands of a preschooler and keeping things together because people have to eat and have clean clothes.  The tiredness started to take over but I'm fighting it off and little bright spots like this day really help.  

I'm not sure if there is anyone out there reading this old blog anymore but I miss writing it.  I miss thinking about my life and writing it down.  So, if you're there, come on back soon.