The First Swim of Summer

Walden Pond State Reservation

What better day to take a dip than the first day of summer? And...I got to use the new beach towel my friend Kalila gave me for my birthday, adorned with four cute mermaids.

I love swimming.

It's not that I'm particularly good at it. I never swam competitively in high school or college. It's just that the feeling of weightlessness is so relaxing.

It feels like it's not just my body that's weightless, but my soul as well. I often feel bogged down by worries, cares, and fears, but in the water I'm nine years old again. The years are stripped away and it's just little me, playing in the wide pond, embraced by it's cool, enveloping touch. The water holds me and I am uplifted with it, buoyed by hope and a thousand more summer days.

Several years ago, I dreamed I was a mermaid. I remember swimming in shallow, greenish water, light filtering through in wavy, dappled rays. Smooth plants glanced my sides and tail, and rocks hunkered below me on the floor of the brackish inlet I traveled. Breathing underwater, I inhaled and felt the liquid enter my nostrils, and then down into my lungs without resistance.

There was no effort at all. It was all so easy.