7.08.2008

Back in the Swim


For weeks and weeks, since I left my job in mid-May in fact, I've been trying to get enthused about exercising regularly since I now seemingly have all the time in the world. But alas - with so many fabulous activities to compete, sweating just hasn't seemed all that appealing.

Still, I have a commitment to exercise in place and it's just time to honor it, damn it. So I resolved to make good on my word today and used the blistering hot Texas summer afternoon and my adoration of the water to lure myself to Deep Eddy Pool on Barton Creek. "Just do your laps, take a nice relaxing shower, get dressed and then you can go to a coffee shop for some writing!" I told myself. My life is so hard, isn't it?

The swim was wonderful. The spring water that fills the enormous pool(s) hovers right around 70 to 72 degrees and it took a good 6 or so laps before it didn't feel brisk. Just exactly like I like it! While I watched the droplets and rings and splashes of water make shadows on the bottom of the pool as I swam along face down, I had a nice long chat with myself about why it's so damn important for other people to love me. I do some pretty good thinking in the traces, lapping back and forth like a swimming machine. The only answers I got to my questions about being loved were pretty stupid, which tells me something right there.

When I got out of the pool, enormous ash gray clouds had massed in the west, making a stunning backdrop to the vast field of vivid aqua. In these here parts, the intense summer heat conjures up explosive little cells of meteorological activity that meander along the map during the heat of the day, dousing everything in their path. As I showered in the women's bathhouse, the gusty air of the approaching rain made that delicious feeling of cool air on naked skin in the outdoors.

Aahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh...

Now let's see if I can make it a habit.

1 comment:

Tiara said...

regardless of import, *I* love you, and what you're writing, and getting to hear about your adventures.

~Jori/Tiara