Me & My Feet

I have very unruly feet.

Some of you who know me know that I have some...challenges...with swimming.

Some who know me well, like my sister, may think secretly that I "can't be taught."

I can swim, really. Meaning I can keep myself afloat, and I learned some "form" a long time ago which I can maintain if I am thinking about it and not worrying about things like how deep the water is.

But I can't swim underwater. My feet won't go down. They just, simply... won't go.

But when I went swimming this afternoon, I'm sure I had more fun taking lessons from my accomplished siblings than I would have if I had succeeded in underwater swimming.

It's easy," John said helpfully, while Abigail advised, "stick your feet up in the air and then...start swimming."

A few minutes later, I surfaced to the tune of hysterical giggles.

"We could sell tickets," John gasped, while Abigail volunteered to imitate me, swimming underwater.

She swam off, sticking first one leg and then the other straight up in the air behind her as she went, accompanied by much splashing and more giggles from John and Peter.

I had to laugh too. "But...you said 'stick your feet up and swim'," I defended myself, "and that's what I did."

Abigail tried again. After she was done laughing. Before she said I "couldn't be taught."

"Let me show you how you should swim underwater, but I'll do it on the surface." I watched intently. And copied her closely.

Strictly on the surface. Every attempt to go...down...was ineffective.

"Pretend you're sliding downhill on your stomach," Abigail said much later, trying a different tack.

"I can do that," I said brightly, diving in.

I came up only to hear more gales of laughter. I laughed too...ruefully. Especially when Abigail informed me, "I said downhill...that means you have to angle your body down."

"Let's play Marco Polo," Peter said.

"But I wanted to learn to swim underwater," I protested.

"A little at a time," Abigail said, grinning, but with finality.

I guess even a very good show gets old sometime.