Learning to swim

There is one awesome lady that I met during my short vacance here in Canada. I'll call her JG. I met her during one of my aquacise sessions. 

One day, I happened to mentioned at the ladies locker room (out loud?) that I would love to learn how to swim. Well, now you may be wondering: You can't swim? You see, I am one of those late-bloomers that for some reason never had the chance to perfect the skill.  And partly,I think it had to do with the fact that I almost drowned when I was 7, when I fell off the bamboo raft on the lake (man-made nonetheless) at the resort that my grandfather managed, in the Philippines. Hence the phobia of swimming. 

When I lived in Japan, I finally decided to conquer THE phobia. I took swimming lessons. From a very fit 75-year old Japanese swim instructor, mind you. It was fun, but short-lived. Though I continued to love (finally) water and finally got over the first few layers of this phobia over the years as I explored different beaches in Hawaii and Asia over the years- even braving to snorkel-  it wasn't until I came back to Canada this year that I made another decision to unravel another layer of the phobia: swimming in deep water.

For the last 2 months, after each aquacise session (3-4x week), JG would coach me for 30 minutes on the basics, so to speak, of swimming. You see, JG IS a phenomenal woman- a beautiful and powerful commanding stature of a woman. A woman whose years of life and living are marked in her body, face and overall experiences. She is 82 years old, and yes, a fantastic swimmer!

I would always watch her during my aquacise sessions, catching glimpses of breast-strokes,  her vigorous laps with the splashing of her fins,  or her lat-pulldown stretches on the edge of the pool displaying her former gymnast/acrobat self. I marveled not only at her physical strength, but also her character. With our teacher-student relationship already blossoming, I also got to know her as a friend.

"Breathe, form, streamline, roll...!" As the my swimming lessons progressed, JG would always yell these words out to remind me of these basics. These four words became my precious anchors, words that I pull out of my vocabulary and lay it out on the pool whenever I was swimming.  I call them Life Metaphors. JG laughed out loud. So she upped the ante finally. She commanded me to swim in deep water! Imagine my horror when she said, "Now go, swim at the deep end!". I  hesitated for a moment, but to make a long breathing and rolling story short, I made it! It was awesome to have my cute coach cheering me in the background. I think that did it: her belief that I could do it.

As she became my friend, I felt honored to know more about her. A life fantastic that she led, this amazing woman who immigrated from Austria with her husband in 1957 to escape -among many things-a Nazi father and some kind of illicit job she had in Cyprus ( we may call this as trafficking nowadays). She's had quite a life, having to leave and start anew and fresh in her newly adopted country of Canada.

Somehow when I found that out, I thought to myself that this may be one of the many reasons I was drawn to her. She is strong and she is not afraid of change. I love people like this. Especially women who are like this.  I can relate to JG.  And I am inspired by her life, her amazing integrity, not to forget her outstanding swimming skills. She is my mentor supreme. I sure will miss her but I promised I will keep in touch. After all, I want to ease her worries about Oman, which she mistook for a while as Amman ( in Jordan). Funny.

She is one phenomenal woman, as all the many women in my life. One day I will write more about JG.  And I will also write about all the other women who inspire me to swim in the ocean of life. 

In the meantime, I'll keep practising, I'll keep up with the swimming (Arabian sea here I come :-)) and remember my coach's words of empowerment.  Love you to bits, JG... am taking a piece of you!