What A Day

I was looking forward to the pool all day and I get in only to be told that I need to get out. I told you to come at 5:30, Nick says. Um, no, you didn't. You told me to stay in one lane to the side. I sent a text message to Katie, he continues. But you didn't send one to me. I, reluctantly, climbed out of the pool. I was hot because I could have come later or brought some reading material, yarn, knitting needles or something.

I sat in the wire cage -- kind of like a baseball dugout with barb wire, watched the sun hit the water and looked at the permanent scowl of the coach from the MO School for the Blind who was on Michael's case as usual and, today, he was Michael. Last week, he was Mikey. Michael, why did you stop? Michael, get out of the pool. Michael, I'm going to take you to an all-deep pool and if you stop, you'll sink. I couldn't believe that he was threatening the kid with the deep end. I so hoped the Mikey would hit a water home run.

At 5:30, I had the pool to myself for about five minutes. Then, the front crawler appeared quickly followed by ten kids. Only one toddler was accompanied by a parent and there was complete bedlam as Nick tried to provide instruction for them all. The second lifeguard even had the nerve to leave and I'm sure that there was some violation of lifeguard to child ratio.

Despite the false start, I managed to get in 17 laps in 45 minutes but Monday at the pool was like Monday in general -- chaotic and draining.

Encounters of the Dinner Kind

Baked fish and vegetables were on the menu at my grandmother's house yesterday. I was excited since I miss the ritual of Sunday dinner with g'ma and company. In fact, it's hard to turn down my aunt's food even when it's fried fish, french fries and hushpuppies.

I quickly realized that the extra fine green beans and mushrooms were slick with oil.

The tilapia was extremely tasty and I inquired about the flavors. My aunt had used Old Bay Seasoning and told me that the recipe was in the paper on the table.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Broiled-Tilapia-Parmesan/Detail.aspx

No wonder the tilapia was tasty; it had butter and mayonnaise on its flesh.

There's a chance that I could be under eating in proportion to the amount of exercise that I've been doing and I was hoping that the butter and mayo would do no harm.

I actually managed to move the scale, an anticlimactic event after all of the anticipation. I'm a pound lighter. Usually, I drop weight in two pound increments. So, the scale should move again soon.

I went swimming today which is such a reward after the j-o-b on Monday. I swam 20 laps in about sixty minutes. The kids from the MO School from the Blind were there and two swimmers collided again.

One of the teachers is taking a boot camp mentality to the max. I felt sorry for Mikey because the teacher was all over his case. Mikey did I tell you to stop? Mikey go back. Mikey do this. Mikey do that. Neither Mikey nor the teacher looked like they were enjoying themselves and as Shannon, one of my former swim teachers said, swimming should not be stressful.

Where I Was Coming From

I was so happy to see the Wreck Center after work. When I went into the locker room, there were clothes all over which is usually not the case. Then, I heard a lot of commotion in the vicinity of the pool.

I got into my swimwear, headed toward the pool and put my towel on the bench. There were about seven teenagers in the water and two adults with poles on the sidelines. I headed straight for Nick who explained that students from the MO School for the Blind would be there every Monday in March practicing for a race. Wow. I was apprehensive about the deep end and couldn't imagine the nerve it would take to learn how to swim with limited sight or none at all.

I claimed lane six and as I was doing the back crawl, Nick was talking to me but I couldn't hear him since my ears were pretty much submerged. Once I got to the end of the pool, I asked him to repeat himself.

You could hardly swim when you first started coming and now...

I wanted to say something profound but all I could muster was yeah but I think that Nick knew where I was coming from.

When I left the Wreck Center, it was still a little light out. It was nice to come home and not have to cook or wash clothes. I made vegetarian chili yesterday and it was mmmm, mmmm good.