Pool Side

In a lot of ways, I have been really stressed lately.
In a lot of ways, I have been really amazed at how wonderful life is.
Like in swimming, instead of doing laps lately we have been playing games, particularly basketball. It's nice because rather than the girls standing around doing nothing and the boys acting as though it were the Olympics, everyone participates and enjoys themselves. Okay, the boys still act like they are playing in the Olympics but they're a bit gentler. I've been having a grand time since there is no running and I can really get into the game. But what really makes my day is when the kids say "Elizabeth, pass it here!" For one, they acknowledge I'm alive. But two they know me as Elizabeth and not Liz anymore: I'm so thrilled.
It's things like that that really make the difference. I like swimming class unlike a lot of girls in my class: My hair looks great afterward and it's refreshing unless the teacher makes you do laps. But also because you can't move as quickly or as strongly in the water when you move to do something like catch a ball. It seems to give me a fair advantage so everyone can play equally. Though it's never fun when a hard, rubbery basketball lands on your unready hands, or off the side of your head. Not a personal esperience of mine, but that of a girl who always seemed to be looking the other way when the ball was passed, and would bounce off the poor girl's skull. Several times.