Back in the Swim

Did you ever walk around just not right in your own skin?  Maybe you made some not-so-good food choices lately.  Maybe you are adjusting to a new schedule, especially if you are in a new time zone?  Maybe your exercise routine has fallen apart.

I have felt out of whack for a while – ever since that stomach flu back in February.  It really set me back, and somehow I got it in my head that I caught the bug in the pool. I have feared the water since then. Silly and senseless, isn’t it?  I’ve missed out on a good two months of one of my favorite sports and one that keeps me most fit.  It’s time to get unstuck and back into the swim of things.

This week I returned to the town pool.  Its crystal clear and cool water is inviting and refreshing.  The clearly marked lanes inspire the discipline of a good training session. 

Let’s go! 

I feel the loss of swim fitness when I must stop every fifty yards to recover my breath.  Hey, that’s what happens when you cut back and do not work on maintaining your endurance.  Within the half hour that I cover the 900 yards, I am back to the familiar 100-yard segments.  It’s great – and it’s comforting to know that I will be nice and sore the next day (an indicator of a total body workout)!

Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of the summer season. Everyone back into the pool!  Join me.  Have a safe and happy holiday!

My Son, the Yoga Instructor

It was a very “Happy Mother’s Day”.  As always, my husband greeted me with assurances of a restful, pampered day. Honestly, he makes many like that. (Lucky me!)


My older son joined us for dinner and gifted me with a beautiful stone he had finished.  It is a chrysocolla.  It is valued among Native Americans as a stone of peace, wisdom, discretion and levelheadedness.  


The day ended with my participation – for the first time – as a student in my younger son’s yoga class.  As the instructor, he warned me that it is not a simple series of comfortable stretches but a truly sweat-inducing workout.  Great! That would be a perfect way to end a lazy weekend and begin a new week!


The class began with my teary eyes.  No not out of fear or a bad case of allergies… My son introduced me to the other students and described how I have been supportive through the years.  He went on to make the analogy how yoga supports our physical and spiritual health... I cannot agree more.  In fact, doesn’t all physical exercise do that for us?


Well, I discovered a match in intensity of training for my coach – my son.  He was not kidding.  The class moved fast with poses changing at a good clip.  Thank goodness his friend was beside me to model them for me – and lend me the immediate support I needed!  It looked like we were finally winding down when I heard Mike say,  “You all are doing a great job!  We have covered a lot already, and the class is only half over.” Oh, no.


What a workout!  I ache all over.  Even my hair hurts.  It doesn’t matter.  I am happy.  I am proud – not so much of my accomplishment in this yoga class but of the instructor.  He is the accomplished one.  Namaste.