I’ve always been a swimmer in the sense that I’ve always loved to be in the water, splashing around in lakes and pools and oceans, but I was never a Swimmer. I didn’t really know my strokes and I’d never dream of swimming for exercise. The thing that changed all of that was Adult Swim at the Lake Louisa Social Club. 

We learned about the existence of the club the first summer we spent at the lake, but we didn’t join. We were living in Montreal then, only coming to the lake on the weekends, and most of the club activities took place during the week. 

But then we moved back to California and that first summer we came to the lake for nearly two months. Our plan was to sell the house (it didn’t make sense to have a summer place in Quebec when we were living in California) and we were determined to have a great last hurrah before we did. We joined the club and unlocked a new level of awesomeness of this community. There were kids galore, swimming lessons, swim team, drama club, regattas, and field days; there were potlucks and movie nights. At four and six the kids had the time of their lives and made friendships that would draw them back here year after year (obviously we scrapped the selling the house plan).

And in that first summer, I discovered Adult Swim. The waterfront of the club has two docks between which lane lines are strung into a close approximation to a 25-meter pool. It’s where the kids take lessons, have swim team practice, and host swim meets against rival lakes.

On Tuesday and Thursday mornings, the adults take over. In an attempt to join all of the things and meet all of the people, I showed up for this activity even though I had never had the desire to swim laps. And over the next few years, under the watchful eye of a rotating staff of young adults and teenagers, I learned to swim the backstroke and the breaststroke, even the butterfly (sort of). I learned drills and how to be more efficient with my arms and legs. Some years the staff member in charge of Adult Swim is eager to give tips and offer suggestions, other years they simply write up a workout on the whiteboard and let us do our thing. I came to love Adult Swim and after a couple of years joined a master’s team back home so I could swim all year long. 

This is all a very long-winded way of saying that my swim today was Adult Swim. I think I swam about 1,700 meters. It felt good and enjoyed watching the fish darting leisurely below as we worked our butts off on the surface.