Swimming is fun

As a grown up I realize that through the course of life I have learned many valuable lessons. Some of them I learned from my mom and dad. Some of them I learned in school and through expereince. Many of them I learned from my aunts. Now, I am an aunt and my oldest niece recently started kindergarten. I know that they say everything you need to know you learn in kindergarten. I disagree. I believe that there are some things that one cannot learn in a classroom. These are lessons that can only be learned by living. So, here it is. A year's worth of tiny words of wisdom for all of the nieces and nephews out there, or really for anyone who will listen. They may not work for everybody and you may not agree with all of them, but each one is a rule that I either try to live by or wish I did.

# 15 Learn to swim.

Learn to swim, learn to swim, learn to SWIM!!!!!!!!
Growing up, we did not have a pool, and not many of my friends did. I remember that some friends of my parents had one and we would go over there occasionally, and one of my aunts also had one. I would always play around in the shallow end, and on a floatie. I never learned to swim. My fourth grade teacher also taught swimming lessons during the summer, so I begged my parents to let me take them. I got a brand new swimsuit and I was ready to go. I finally got to the point where I could swim from one end of the pool to the other, as long as the teacher was in the pool. However, as soon as I graduated from swim lessons, the summer was over and I never practiced. After that I never really did it on my own again.
I am terrified of the water. Drowning, more specifically. It comes from a tragic event at a water park when I almost drowned because of a very large woman. I spent all of high school, not going to pool parties because I was terrified that one of the boys would try to throw me in. When I did go and they tried, I just gripped their necks so tightly that when they tried to throw me in, they came in with me. At water parks, I wouldn't go down the slides, and I would make up some excuse like "oh I have to go to the bathroom,I'll meet you guys in a bit," or "oh, I have to go take my medicine, I'll be right back."
I was too embarassed to tell my friends that I couldn't swim.
In 2008, I moved to Maui for a year. What a great place to conqure a fear of the water... sort of.
While I was there, I snorkled, scuba dived, attempted surfing and even jumped off of a (very tiny) waterfall. I realized that it wasn't necessarily that I couldn't swim. I knew how, it just terrified me. However, once I put that mask on and I could see everything, I could do it. It took a few times of someone else holding my hand, but eventually I did it.
If you don't know how to swim, you can potentially miss out on a lot of fun. Marco Polo is a wonderful game. So are pool volleyball, chicken and all of the others. If you know how to swim, you can go to pool parties and the beach with your friends and actually have fun in the water. And, you won't have to make up excuses as to why you are only going in the water up to your knees.