Tuesday, September 17: A memory you would love to relive.
My grandfather from my father's side used to live in Upstate New York. During the summers that we did go to America, we would rent a car and drive up to visit him. I won't lie, I never thought these trips were that exciting. He lived in a small town, on a road with houses that looked the same. I remember that there were some rail tracks nearby, since we used to drive over them when we drove from our hotel to his house and back.
The last time I visited his house was when I was very young, perhaps 7 years old. One of the most vivid memories I have of that time, though, was that of learning how to swim. You see my parents, two older brothers (who were studying in the US at the time), younger brother and I would stay at the Ramada when visiting my grandfather, and they had a small, but really pleasant, indoor swimming pool. And during our visits, after we'd spent the entire day with my grandfather and other family members, my older brothers would take my younger brother and I down to the pool and we would swim for what seemed like hours.
It's amazing how simple life is when you are young. Which is one reason I would like to re-live this memory. I would like to go back, to the time that my older brother would show off his swimming skills and in turn make us want to learn how to swim. Taking turns, he would take each of us in his arms and "dive" down to the swimming pool floor so that we could touch it! He taught us this little trick where we'd grab on to the edge of the pool, put our feet up against the pool wall (like a froggie), then push ourselves into the pool and do an underwater somersault. It was (still is) the most impressive pool trick I have EVER learnt!
Another move he patiently taught us was how to blow out all of the air from our lungs and sink to the pool's floor, where we would sit cross-legged for as long as we could (which was never very long!).
And of course, he taught us how to lie on swimming pool floors :)
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When I was a kid I always thought it was such a treat to go swimming in hotel pools when we traveled, too. :) I never did get very good at handstands or holding my breath under water, though!
ReplyDeleteHi Allison! I too was never good at holding my breath under water hehe! thanks for your lovely comment! Hoping the boat renovation is going great!!
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