A busy morning and day kept me away from the bay until late afternoon when I finally got to hop into the water. Because I was alone, I opted for the Berkeley Marina where there are always people on the water. Too many people sometimes: I stood on the dock, the wind whipping and watched… Read More Solo Afternoon Swim (Day 269)
Today Eliza left on her road trip back up to Victoria for another year of University. I sat on the stoop and watched her drive away, my heart full of the complicated mixture of pride and sadness that is becoming a familiar part of parenting a young adult. I wanted to go inside and sob… Read More Crying into my Goggles (Day 241)
The cold that has been nipping at my heels the last two days settled in for real today. I’ve been hacking and sniffling and sneezing and feeling like garbage all day. Multiple Covid tests continue to tell me it’s not that and I don’t really feel like I felt in April when I had Covid… Read More Swimming with a Cold (Day 220)
Thump. We were a twenty-minute swim from shore in the Berkeley Marina when something solid rammed into the side of my leg. “What…?” I barely had time to register that something was amiss when I felt the firm, slick skin of something very alive and riled-up slither under my legs; then back again along my… Read More Shark! (Day 137)
I’ve spent the day highly distracted by the Supreme Court leak that indicates Roe vs. Wade will be overturned. It’s triggered my rage and sadness, my feelings of helplessness and overwhelm at the state of the world and I’ve spent the whole day writing and thinking about it, leaving me not much left for my… Read More Joyful Lunchtime Swim (Day 123)
80th day of swimming! It was a sunny warm afternoon at the Berkeley Marina where Arwen and I met for a swim. First, we spent a long time relaxing on the dock, soaking in the sun, struggling to make ourselves get into the water when we were so lovely and warm on land. A group… Read More Strange Cold (Day 80)
I’m writing this from my comfy chair in a pool of sunshine I have not been able to extract myself from since returning from my swim two hours ago. I’m still wearing my after swim clothes and dry robe; my skin is begging me to get up and take a shower, rinse away the salt… Read More Getting In (Day 66)
My Monday swims are always a bit up in the air. I have my Lift & Sprint class in the morning and while on the other mornings I have my class (Wednesday and Friday), I like to go straight from class to the bulb for a quick swim, Monday mornings are reserved for Hazel. Her… Read More Low Tide at the Marina (Day 59)
What a difference a day makes; yesterday’s calm, hot, summer-like swim was nowhere to be seen in the fog, wind, wavy, wild bay of today. Arwen and I went for an afternoon swim at the Berkeley Marina. It was low tide and so we got in at the little beach by the boarded up Hs.… Read More Valentine’s Day (Day 45)
“This will be the most valuable thing I do today.” That was what Sheila texted our swim group chat after a swim last spring. I was going to say “a particularly gorgeous swim,” but I don’t actually remember, and, truthfully, it might not have been an especially brilliant day. It’s the kind of thing any… Read More Most Valuable Thing (Day 14)