Diving Into The Deep End
I don't know how to swim. But I remember back in Guam and Hawaii, the beach or the swimming pool was the place where everybody (all my cousins) almost always hung out. I don't really know how it happened or how it didn't happen, but I never learned how to swim.
Marco Polo was a favorite game and if you have ever played Marco Polo, you know that players who can't swim are stuck in the shallow end of the pool (because they can't swim, they have to stand to keep their head over the water). Marco (the person who is "it") usually spends a lot of time in the shallow end too, because it is easier to start from there. Ever try running stomach deep in water? You can't go too fast (remember can't swim) nor can you do it quietly enough for Marco not to hear you. It got old real quick for me since all everyone had to do when I was Marco was to camp out in the deep end. They were pretty much safe there. One day out of frustration, I dove intot he deep end... it took two of my cousins to pull me into the shallow end of the pool...
The beach was another thing all together. There were more than a few times when by all rights I should be at the bottom of the sea somewhere. For all the times I got swept out by rip currents or riptides, for all the times I dog paddled my way back to shore the LONG way. I remember one time when a lifeguard actually saw my predicament and made sure I made it to shore. As I got to the shore he told me that he saw that I was swept out by a rip current but he saw that I knew enough to swim parallel to the shore and work in towards the shore. I wanted to tell him why didn't he come out to help me, but I was out of breath.
One of these days I'll learn...

Song of the Day: "The Cisco Kid" by War