Don’t wait to pursue your dreams
It’s Never Too Late to Do What You Should’ve Been Doing All Along
Swimming again after 40 years
1981. Eleven-year-old me confidently stares down the competition on the swim deck at the city-wide Allied Gardens swim meet. I was taught not to brag, but I was assuredly coming home with multiple gold colored plastic medals, culminating in the 4 x 100 meter freestyle relay. As the best on the team, I was swimming the anchor leg. Of course.
My first event, the backstroke, was admittedly a little shaky. These other swimmers were much faster than those at my local swim club. I came in fifth. Just a fluke, I told myself. A warm-up. But I fared no better in my other races. Inexplicably, however, my confidence had not yet completely vanished.
There still was my marquee event, the freestyle relay. The first three legs we were behind, but just a teeny-tiny bit. I sprang into the pool and swam as fast as I could, as fast as I ever had. When I touched the wall, I heard nothing… silence. This must mean victory, akin to a runner’s high, if you will. I was such a focused athlete I had willed all distractions into silence.
As I arrogantly got out of the pool, the scene came into sharper focus. My fellow competitors were in towels, their hair…
