Today was my first day in the early morning swim class and it felt good to be in the water again. I am grouped with a range of swimmers; Hannah is brand new to it and middle aged Pam swam on the high school swim team. There are also several young men, some of whom have never swam before either.
Our coach had us doing breathing drills, with one arm stretched out while we float on our backs. Back and forth in the lane, all of us forming a single line down the pool.
I can swim, and the coach knows I can swim. This is both bad and good. We, as first timers in this class, have an advantage of the coaches attention who generously tweaks our performance to improve--like my kicking. There are several classes meeting at the same time, who run drills and don't receive as much attention. He suggested I'll be in with the beginners for maybe a week before I start in with the rest of the groups. Which is good because I can swim, but bad because they drill pretty hard without breaking and it has been a while since I've been in the pool. My rhythm is still off. But I'll find it soon. I hope...
Often, when I say something is "life changing," people make the mistake of thinking I am talking about some monumental event. I'm not. I find that the most lasting changes in my life have taken years of tweaking and growth. For instance, we recently started getting out produce and eggs from a farm-share. Each week, we go to a designated spot and pick up a box filled with seasonal veggies and fruit that is organically grown by local farmers. It has changed the way we eat--suddenly it seems so wasteful to eat at restaurants, our vegetable intake has increased and our meat and fat consumption is down. JE has lost about 10 pounds in the last month.
I so enjoyed the nutrition class I took this summer, I enrolled in a nutrition controversies class for the fall. I'm also desperately trying to get into a bio-chem class that fits so beautifully into my schedule. But there are a dozen people trying to add the class and only one slot open. It will be lotteried off at the next class period--send good thoughts my way.
After years of pestering JE to take a sailing class with me, all it took for him to enroll was a tiny bout of public humiliation (I didn't mean it!). Our first time out of the harbor, we were casually escorted by a small pod of dolphin. One was so close we could hear it breath. It was a fun class. Every class we had a tiny breeze to learn to sail by. But our last class we had a gale! JE had a great time, but I found steering the boat (a 14 ft caprise with a reefed sail) incredibly difficult. "Almost capsizing is not capsizing," our instructor reminded me when we got to port. But I have been a bit afraid of taking the tiller since then, it was pretty close. And who is it to push for continuing our sailing experience? Yes, my JE has us signed up for the next class--14 weeks of 'fun.'
We've been so fortunate to get up to the central coast while the weather is still so nice. Last weekend we roamed the hills above Big Sur both by car and on foot. We are learning to cook on a camp stove, over a fire, and in foil in the fire.
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