excess baggage

me needs agua

I was at my first physical therapy appointment for my back yesterday when the therapist recommended swimming or something water-related as my exercise of choice. I nodded, as you would, but silently, my mind was buzzing with all sorts of thoughts about me and THE SWIMMING POOL.

Let me just say this: I LOVE SWIMMING. I really, really do. I haven't done it in years, but I always loved being in the water. I guess this was an early fascination because my mother tells me that when I was about two years old, she "misplaced" me at a hotel, and they found me wandering down some pool steps. One of my earliest memories was of being underwater - being under a long time, feeling very safe, and not having the urge to breathe.

This, I gather, was the first of my two near-drowning experiences. The second was at a beach when I got caught up in some under-tow and had to be rescued by a lifeguard. I don't have the same warm-fuzzy memory of that, but yet I still love the feeling of water surrounding my body.

I remember the first time I was actually able to swim properly (at family-friends The Fuentes' backyard pool), and I remember being enrolled in morning swim classes at around age nine or ten. I remember the excitement when my parents decided to put in an above-ground pool (a dough-boy?). I swam every day that summer. But, alas, they eventually had it removed for reasons I'm not sure of now.

Anyhow, as I grew older (and fatter), going into a pool in any sort of public place became something extremely embarrassing for me. I was really self-conscious about it. Since high school, I've been in a pool exactly two times. Once, after being prompted to by some roommates while in audio school, the second, while I was house-sitting for a co-worker (they had a fabulous backyard pool).

I would love to do water aerobics, and eventually get back into swimming. But the faintest idea of me in a bathing suit sends me into near-hysterics, and I need to force the imagery from my mind at once. Heck, I haven't even worn shorts in years - my legs are easily the whitest you've ever imagined - nearly translucent!

Anyone have any ideas as to how I might overcome this? Anyone know of any indoor pools where a fat girl like me can exercise without feeling totally humiliated? Anyone have a backyard pool they want to rent me two weekends out of every month?

Posted by weezgrrl at April 15, 2004 01:06 PM