Learning to Back Float

Well, I went to the pool this afternoon with Nick, my mom, and my dad. I sat under the umbrella the whole time with mom and dad, and I had like 53 band-aids all over the spots I don't want to get sun (I still have lots of spots from my horrible rash at the end of February)- okay, it was really only 7 or 8 band-aids, but it seemed like 53. Dad joked that if I continue to use band-aids in such a fashion, he is going to buy stock in Johnson and Johnson. Ha! Ha! He's so funny! : )

Whenever we are at the pool, and I am watching Nick swim, I usually think at least once of the time my dad taught me to back float on a lake in Minnesota. My mom has the picture, and I really want to get it and have it framed. Maybe I will post it here some day....promises, promises.

The cool thing about this experience was that in high school we studied a poem about a dad teaching his daughter to back float. This is the poem:

First Lesson

Lie back daughter, let your head be tipped back in the cup of my hand. Gently, and I will hold you. Spread your arms wide, lie out on the stream and look high at the gulls. A dead- man's float is face down. You will dive and swim soon enough where this tidewater ebbs to the sea. Daughter, believe me, when you tire on the long thrash to your island, lie up, and survive. As you float now, where I held you and let go, remember when fear cramps your heart what I told you: lie gently and wide to the light-year stars, lie back, and the sea will hold you.  Philip Booth  Man, I love that poem. Isn't it amazing? I have many times felt tired as I'm "thrashing" to my island - wherever that is (I haven't figured that one out yet), and I am so thankful that my dad taught me to survive. And even though he isn't "holding" me now, like he did when I was little, there are so many lessons he taught me that make me able to stand/float on my own. Like: -Get up. Get up and get going. One day when I was a teenager he tried to wake me, and I wouldn't get up - like most teenagers, I wanted to lounge until noon or so. He said, "If you are not up by the time I get back here, I'm throwing a glass of water on you." I have to admit that I thought "yeah, right" to myself. In between wakefulness and sleep I heard him open the cupboard, turn on the faucet, turn off the faucet, and then I heard his steps coming back down the hallway. I jumped out of bed, just as he turned the corner into my room. Even though I was out of bed, he threw the whole glass of water right on me, all over the wall and everything. So, yeah, he taught me to get up and get going - which is a valuable lesson on days when you really have to try. -It ain't so bad.  One of our loves growing up was the Rocky series of movies. If you don't love the Rocky movies, well....I don't even know what to say if you don't love them. Just don't tell me, because I'll be too upset! :) In Rocky III (which is my least favorite, next to Rocky V, which I don't even count), Mr. T. is beating the hell out of Rocky, and Rocky keeps saying, "Ain't so bad. Ain't so bad." When I was getting chemo treatments, my dad would say this to me, and we would laugh. It sucked, we both knew, but it felt much cooler to say, "Ain't so bad." This applies to many life situations, don't you think? And, last but certainly not least: -Faith. Rely on your faith. I have been thinking about this one a lot lately....conversations with family and friends keep bringing me back to the issue of faith. There have been times when I have wanted so badly to be angry with God. In the end, I never really can. There are many, many things I don't like about the Catholic church, but I'm so thankful that my parents raised us with a faith background. And even if there are things I don't believe in, I still find God and peace when I am at mass - lots of other times, too, but definitely at mass. My dad is not one you might expect to be faith-driven, but he SOOOO is. This is not to say he is perfect, because he's not (right, mom?) : ), and it's not to say he is holier than thou, because he's not that, either. He is generous and has always given his very best for his family. I know he is following the example of Christ in that regard. I also think it's great that he has not been judgmental as my siblings married and joined other churches. I know he is as proud of my brother Jamie and his involvement in the Lutheran church as he is of any of us in the Catholic church. Faith. It's really about faith, not religion. He taught me that.

Dad doesn't read my blog - mostly because he is just not a computer guy, but maybe Mom will call him in to read this one. He will be teary-eyed, no doubt. He is also very sentimental. 

One last thing, unrelated to Dad. You must RUN! I mean RUN to artonawhim.org (there is a link on the side of this blog, too) to see my photo shoot of Nick. We did it this afternoon before our excursion to the pool. I am learning photography. Someone tell me what you think. Which is your favorite?