Hit the pool today the first time this summer and the water felt oh so refreshing in the hundred degree Texas heat! As my daughter swims, I sit in the water and watch. Little pint size swimmers, bustling in the pool, make me wistful for the feel of effortless strokes in the blue water. But first thing’s first. How do I hide my embarrassment at being the only adult in the pool who cannot swim? However, I can float for a little time, and I can swim up to as far as one single breath can take me. So I move about in the water, in the guise of a supervising adult and let water wash away the day’s weariness. For a few years now I had gone to the pool, a few times during the summertime, in the hopes of getting swimming. But swimming has eluded me. I hear all the time about people who jump in the water and ‘get’ swimming in a few days. Why couldn’t I? Not everybody is a natural with water I suppose. Then my daughter wanted to play little water games, and she raced me to touch the bottom of the pool. I raced too, and I tried to touch the bottom of the pool. I failed. And I tried and I tried, and I failed and I failed. It was ridiculous. I had a clear view of the bottom, I was within a feet of it, and I wanted to touch it so hard, but the force of water just wouldn’t let me go there! How frustrating! O ye water, how daunting your force! The task seemed easy, yet so tough! It bore so much analogy with real life. In life too we dream, things seem easy, so much within the reach! But when we stand on our toes with the purpose of catching that special star, we find that we just caught air, and the star eluded us. And then we strive and struggle, we break bounds, we toil and tread. And then finally, if we are lucky, we catch our star. And there is nothing in the world like that sense of accomplishment. Some things in life may come easy. But easy come and easy go. Because it is so easy to fail to fathom the value of it. But lucky are the ones who have to labor hard to reach their goals. The rewards are so much sweeter. With that thought, with a single and powerful push of my head, I dive into the water towards the bottom of the pool, and finally, touched the bottom of the pool. Yay! Glory is to me! What great accomplishment! So what if it’s a kiddie pool just four feet deep…….
My Imaginarium 