Water therapy Reminded of Sally's Pool

I always go to water - in good times and bad. Water is my happy place, my solace, my cure. Perhaps is started long ago with amniotic fluid - or maybe it was the Country Club swimming pool. My grandfather, Wallace Bullock, was the first person hit the water in that pool. I doubt he ever got in again, but he made sure to be first. I think he was on the committee.

And Pat Bullock certainly kept the rest of us in the H2O ever after that. I've written about my escapades as a lifeguard and on Atlantic's Swim Team. I'm comfortable in water. I float! #notasinker

When it comes to rehabbing my shoulder and getting back in shape, water exercise just makes sense. Warmth, resistance, and my mecca - all the best for me. I was exercising in the warm water Thursday night...and the Wayback machine drove by. No...I didn't see those pods like the movie Cocoon.

Sally Rodgers - probably age 12ish. Post braids

The Wellness YMCA keep  the water warm - much like the water at a pool I spent much of my childhood in. One owned by the Rodgers family - Wayne and Anna Day, parents of my pal Sally. Last night I pre-occupied my self with thoughts of the Rodgers' house and pool as I put myself through water aerobics paces.

When you're the third child your parents don't really notice when you're gone. Sal was the youngest in her fam - bit spoiled, really. She'd invite me to spend the night - and sometimes I'd be there all weekend. I guess I was an easy kid to have around hanging out playing board games, throwing snowballs and in the summer - swimming in the oval in-ground pool in the backyard.

One of the adults had to be available to "guard" us. (I be Marci loved that!) We spent hours in that thing - until we were wrinkled like prunes. Last night I thought about how we'd compete - seeing how far we could swim without taking a breath. We do backflips off the little diving board and practice flip turns for swim team endlessly.

Sally and I would pretend to be members of synchronized swim team - though that was left better to our friend Candice and others more graceful in the water. I think my sinking leg move was awesome though...in the privacy of Sal's backyard...

One birthday (she's a Leo - August) Sal held a pool party with boys and I broke out my very first bikini there. It was a far cry from the Atlantic Swim Team Speedo I was used to. #meethethegirls
I was blessed to spend so much time with Sally and the Rodgers. Anna Day was a peach and I got to know Wayne more later when I got a horse and he was my mentor. They were special people.

In the meantime - last night I did jumping jacks, cross country and various other under water exercises. Today - my shoulder feels good. And my mind feels good thanks to all those happy memories. See....therapy works.    

Water my solace

I love the water. It's very therapeutic for me - like a massage, or meditation. I needed the water this week. It was a long one. Work was difficult - only to be dwarfed by the sad news about Jess Moeller.

So this a.m. I headed out to the good 'ol Southern Prairie YMCA for a dip! My foot - yeah the one I broke - bothered me for the last week or so. I know not what happened - no clumsy trauma on my part that I recall. Maybe I just overdid it walking at the Y the week before - I did do a little jogging. I know - totally unlike me to run. This week my foot felt like just after I got out of "the boot".

The pool was a good way to get some exercise without stressing it too much. I didn't life weights, or walk to warm up - just popped into the water at 6 a.m. sharp. Water aerobics was happening in the shallow end, so I did short way laps - fake breast stroke (not using my Sunnyside Pool record-setting form - using my "don't get my hair wet because it's chemically enhanced form) alternating with deep water walking.

I have a long history with pools - stemming back to childhood when my mamma was Spiro Agnew to Betty Pellett's President Nixon. Betty was the grand puba of Red Cross Swimming lessons in Atlantic. Mom helped with those and we also headed to Griswold to the Boy Scout Camp (now a Catholic camp) to teach the little rural Cass Countians to front float.

I have vivid memories of that summer - I must have been 9ish. The pool at the scout camp was in a park where there was a cave where Jesse James hid. Big stuff for someone my age! That summer I was learning to do the elementary back stroke. When the instructor (not my mother or Betty Lou) showed us on land how to do the whip kick, she of course left one foot on the ground. So that was exactly how I did it in the pool - and losing track of where I was, I smacked my head into the pool wall. (yes, an excuse for my behavior today...)

I remember listening to Herman's Hermits "Henry the 8th" during the 20 minute drive to Griswold. There was a commercial on the radio for Dad's Old Fashioned Root Beer, but I thought they were saying Razzle Frazzle Root Beer. I was very proud that my mommy was one of the important people at the pool.

And that is just one of the gazillion memories I have - joyous times that involved swimming. Today was one too - my best bud Debbie joined me. So I could exercise my mouth as well as my body. Deb is therapy just like water! My swim today was good.