I felt good yesterday, Sunday, just before sunset, when I got wet. BEFORE I got in. Felt so good that I spoke to the lifeguard and told him not to worry--"I'm gonna swim out past the waves, then across, and get out on the other side of the rocks. I have my lifejacket."
Maybe a couple hundred people enjoying the day, many young families. I enjoy seeing the young parents with toddlers and babies in diapers. I'm going to add below an old poem I wrote years back, when I was remembering myself with a toddler at the beach.
Boy Toddler
Summer day at a family beach
Toddlers tumbling in tiny water
Landing safely on padded bottoms
Young parents laughing
“You want a pick-up?” Mom asks
“Pick up,” he replies
He’s reaching back down in a minute
Trying out his unsteady legs again
Sand in his hands
Two fistfuls of sand disappear
Over again he grabs for more
But where did it go?
Lifting two hands up over his head
“Oh my goodness, where is it?”
Relish these ephemeral moments
They live in our hearts.
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The water was warm and cloudy, no surfable size to the 2-foot waves. So, I go out to the end of the waves and my lungs decide they don't want to do their job. My diaphragm problem. Can't get much of a breath in and out, discomfort in the low neck area. Dammit.
I hang out for a few minutes and ease back to the sand, feeling quite embarrassed as I pass in front of the lifeguard tower. They must have been thinking, 'Sure, buddy, you're going out and around the rocks...."
Just getting the awakening chill of salt water was fine, though, for me. We try...
Two weeks to doctor appointment to ask about my diaphragm muscle. Stay safe.
