41st Wedding Anniversary - A Good Day for New Beginnings

I occasionally think about the last four decades and wonder where the time went. However, some days (and weeks and months!) have gone by slowly and each year is distinct in my mind, with thousands of photos as memory aids. As my brother Al noted many years ago, my husband Bob is a guy "to ride the river with" -- a phrase in one of the Louis Lamour novels Al introduced me to. Bob and I are still on a really good ride and most of the time we live with a lot of joy. I'll add this anniversary to a long list of  days savored and remembered.

Water is definitely a recurring theme for me, and I'm never happier than when in or around water. I really missed swimming most of last school year. I was a teaching assistant, then a substitute teacher, at St. Croix Catholic School. While I loved the students and was so happy to be teaching again, I kept getting sick throughout the year, with one respiratory virus after another. Hitting the pool was the last thing I wanted to do.

I haven't done anyswimming since we left Florida at the end of March but last week I was given the OK to go back to the pool. This morning, I felt a little fearful stepping into the water at my favorite Maplewood Y, not knowing whether I'd even be able to swim a short distance. While I don't feel much pain a month after surgery, I really hadn't put my upper body muscles to much of a test until today.

Turns out my apprehension was unfounded. I asked one of the slow swimmers if I could share a lane and tentatively did a couple of lengths of breaststroke. I gradually found a new rhythm (quite slow but not pathetic) and seamlessly resumed my pattern of alternating a length of breast with one of backstroke. My goal was a modest 10 laps but I easily swam 20 (500 yards) , way short of my usual 40 but still not too bad. 

We're not celebrating an anniversary dinner until Friday, but today sure feels like a celebration to me. It's a hot day and ice cream may be on the menu.