I swam every day but one this week. It’s February in Cayman, the water has plummeted all the way down to 28⁰ C. (That’s 82⁰F, but hey! I’m climatizado!)

I’ve been thinking about olden days when I was a wee lad, taking and teaching senior life-saving classes, swimming in the Boy Scouts Lake Thunderbird, being a lifeguard, teaching swimming lessons, and swimming in the Moose Lodge pool at lunch in Virginia.

I’ve been swimming my whole life. This post is about that feeling after you jump, before you hit the water. That eeeeeee! silent scream that you can’t tell if it is terror or glee.

When you’re jumping in the water because you’re taking a class, or you’re jumping in the water because you’re teaching one, even if you’re just swimming for the fun of it, it’s the same. You kinda don’t wanna get in but you gotta and once you do, you’re glad you did!

And you jump, and for a second, you remember every time you jumped in your life previously, that unique place where you’re falling and waiting.and anticipating.

And then you hit, the water rushing all around you, the momentary chill, exhilaration and feeling like a smile and the happiness. It’s indescribably wonderful. It’s more than a human sensation I think, it’s mammalian. Its interstellar.

For the first second it’s cold, it’s always cold whether it’s the crisp April morning swimming pool of the Missouri lifeguard or the February Caribbean Sea in the Cayman Islands.

It’s odd, it’s an enjoyable “I don’t want to get wet, but it’s too late now!” during that drop. Maybe because after you jump, and before you hit, you can’t possibly know how cold the water’s really going to be.

It’s sort of like a reluctance to move from one world to another, but once we’re in that other world, we’re so happy to be there!

Its time travel . maybe , we jump, and while we’re falling, it’s always the same .moment in our lives, no year, no age, just the same cosmic moment. Then splash! We return to our normal timeline.

Does anybody know that feeling except for me? There’s a unique sensation that goes along with the days first plunge!

Do you know what I mean?

Happy Friday, Have a great day!