About that mid-life crisis thing…

@postaday 154; #postaday2011.

Sand Castles

We are born, we are borne, we are loved, we are encouraged, we are sent to the ocean’s edge to play with others.

We compete for the shovel, for the bucket, for the biggest sand castle, we decorate it with seashells.

We watch as the waves tease its base until an ankle-high tsunami engulfs it, leaving behind a sandy pillow, little air bubbles percolating, shiny wetness sinking, and finally a muted, matted mound.

Do we try again? Do we move to higher ground? Do we toss our tools into the ocean, raise our fists and demand loudly its respect?

Do we look upon ourselves, down to our feet, where the ankle biters lap, burying our toes in the sand, each wave pulling us into the big drink, and wonder what difference there is between us and a grain of sand? Yes we do. Why not wonder?

~~~

As Sully would say in ‘Monsters, Incorporated,’ “WHAT WAS THAT?” heh One can only hope a sequel is really in the making!

~~~

About yesterday’s entry:

Someone asked me through my blog yesterday if I had planned on doing the annual Waikiki Rough Water Swim, which occurs Labor Day Weekend. Actually, no. I have never done a rough water swim. I sure as hellas wouldn’t want to launch and potentially end my rough-water swimming career by attempting a 2.4-mile crawl in the big drink.

No, I am training instead for a littler jaunt along Oahu’s South Shore, the Na Wahine Festival aquathon, a 500-meter ocean swim followed by a 12-mile bicycle ride. By the time I usually get to 12 miles on my bicycle, I’m just breaking a sweat. But this event is why I decided to start training with the masters at The Oahu Club. Sure, it’s a pool, but the way this weather is, and sharing a lane with people of various abilities, nearly delivers the wild ocean experience. I’m not kidding myself. Next month I will start swimming the Na Wahine swim course so there are no surprises. Who wants to join me?

Last night I had the privilege of having Joe and Tom at The Oahu Club observe my freestyle, show me a video of myself swimming, and, in Joe’s case, swim UNDER me while I was on the surface swimming, all to help me  improve. It was an eye-opening experience! I have been swimming this way for at least 44 years. Every time I did laps, I’d reach with my arms to 12 o’clock. Now they tell me I have to reach to 11 o’clock with my left arm and 1 o’clock with my right arm. OMG talk about reprogramming! The other thing I have to unlearn, because all of this takes more than being told, is to start turning my head to breathe once my arm is pushing back. My habit is to turn my head to breathe while the arm is already back, hand grazing my thigh.  The other thing I have to relearn is head placement. I was taught to have the waterline break at the center of my forehead, neck crooked, eyes forward. No more. Now we are to look straight down, only looking up when we approach the wall. So that also means, if  you ask me, that you cannot see that you are overtaking someone in your lane, or that someone is headed your way. Must figure something out!

All of these new techniques, of course, are designed to make me a more efficient swimmer. Tom told me that this is the new olympic style of swimming. Who am I to argue? Joe says we all need to relax about our swimming, and I know that will help, too. I was getting so overwhelmed and worried about the technical aspects of my freestyle that at one point I inhaled a lung-full of swimming pool. Embarrassing coughing fit followed.

You know, as long as I’m going to put myself in the classroom throughout life — in the pool, on the bicycle, at the computer, on the job — I’m still a growing, vibrant and lively worthwhile person who might not even notice a mid-life crisis, let alone indulge in one.

Yesterday’s comments are not to be missed. More welcome today!

Love,

me.