Journal Day - First

My posts for the 8 Weeks to a Better Me has wrapped up and left me feeling without a weekly task to partake in. Luckily, Danielle has done it again and has started Journal Day! The frequency in which she will post prompts (words of phrases to start us off) I really don't know and the frequency in which I will write my own in response is also unknown. What I do know is that I felt inspired and excited to participate and to write. I have added a little button with the title of these features on the right and clicking on that will populate on my journal posts. So, let's begin! Today is: First.

My freshman year of high school a friend of mine who was a few years older and whom I looked up to said I had to join the swim team. She also had insisted I join volleyball. I joined both teams. (I also got a second piercing in my ear because she had one.) My very first day of swim practice was a nerve wracking one. I had always been a fish and often had to be begged to get out of the pool during the summer but there was something about meeting new people and having to actually have form and speed that was incredibly daunting. I brought my favorite frog towel, and some flip-flops in my see-through orange bag. My hair was in the cool 'do at the time which was a high and super messy bun and my ill fitting blue bathing suit had molded cups to "compliment" my boy-ish beanpole body. I felt flush and ghostly white at the same time as I emerged from the locker room and out to the pool area.

We began with stretches and were told all about the swimming team and how things were going to be ran. Then it was time, into the pool we went. I picked a lane with a couple of my friends and when we were assigned our first practice task I took off through the water. It was 50 freestyle. To be honest, I had never swam so hard in my life. I'm not sure why I felt the need to swim my heart out that first day but I can tell you that I killed myself to keep great form and be one of the fastest in my lane.

That day determined my fate on the team and revealed a deeper passion for swimming that I hadn't know. So many of the personal and team accomplishments of my high school career happened in the pool. Swimming will always be dear to me and I hope one day to teach my children to swim and maybe they'll even find a passion for swimming competitively. No matter the case I look forward to sharing my memories and sharing my passion for being in the water.