Today, my swim friends threw me a party in celebration of my year of swimming and it was a joyful, soul-nourishing experience. Swimming every day in 2022 brought me so many gifts, but if this day had been the only one, it would have been worth it. How rare it is to be so fully… Read More Celebrating
Bleary-eyed with jet lag and the particular bodily displacement that comes from traveling such a long distance in such a short time, I arrived back in the stormy Bay Area ready to take my last plunge of my year of swimming in my favorite place: the Albany Bulb. It was pouring with rain as our… Read More 365 Days of Swimming
Today we had a cheerful holiday swim gathering at the Albany Bulb. Lots of swimmers came out, which seemed extra special because the numbers have been dwindling lately. It was great to swim with a big crowd again. There’s nothing like watching a dozen people brave the cold and go paddling off in all directions. … Read More Celebrating (Day 351)
The milestone of 300 swims seems somehow less momentous than 100 or 200 did. Maybe it’s because I’m so close to the end of my year of swimming: 365 is the number on my mind these days; 300 is just a signpost telling me it’s coming soon. But maybe it’s also because daily swims have… Read More 300 Days of Swimming
After our birthday swim celebration at the Albany Bulb yesterday, we continued Arwen’s celebrations with a surprise (to her) trip to Tomales Bay. We stayed at Dancing Coyote in Inverness and woke up to this stunning view. Once we’d lingered and eaten and caffeinated, we went for a swim. At 58 degrees the water felt… Read More Celebrating Arwen Part II (Day 297)
The summer after 6th grade I moved with my dad and brother to an apartment complex on the campus of UC Irvine. Lonely and awkward, I spent my days in the playground, sulking on the swings, trying to figure out if I was still a kid or a teenager. One day, this adorable girl my… Read More Celebrating Arwen Part I (Day 296)
At my 50th birthday swim celebration, a beaming light of a woman I’d never met before handed me a homemade crown. It was delightfully decorated and personalized and if it surprised me that a stranger would make me a 50th birthday crown, five minutes into knowing Edy, it wasn’t a surprise at all. She radiates… Read More Celebrating Edy (Day 264)
By 4:30 a.m. I was wide awake and nervous. I ate a couple of protein-packed muffins I’d baked yesterday, drank my coffee, and worried. At one point Lulu woke up and wanted to go outside and when I opened the front door for her, I was blasted by the wind. Oh no, I thought. It’s… Read More Alcatraz! (Day 260)
It was Wendy’s (one of the regular 8 o’clock swimmers) last day today and a big crowd showed up to see her off. The conditions were lovely—one of those days when I arrive at the Albany Bulb and am immediately shot through with gratitude that I get to swim here. Silky calm water and overcast,… Read More Swimming, Food, and Community (Day 254)
Back in 2008 when I was still living in Montreal, I joined a writing group in California in anticipation of our move there. I was taking a leave of absence from my job at McGill in order to try my luck at fiction writing and knew if I had any chance of taking myself seriously… Read More Celebrating Kira (Day 232)