"I need a shower." is a thought that crosses my mind whenever I'm sick, tired, depressed, anxious or stressed. To be honest, I prefer baths but since it's rare that I have the time for a good long soak, shower it is.
Don't want to take your own photos? Use ours! 100% royalty free and CC0 stock photos at nomad.pictures! A site (and now steemit account @nomadpictures) I run with @teamhumble to get pictures out of the camera roll and onto the web 👍🏻
I've always loved water even from a small age. I grew up in a small town called Ringwood in New Jersey, which was an old summer vacation town that a bunch of hippies left NYC in the 70's to settle in. I mention this because Ringwood is splattered with lakes, 7 of them in fact, and since we had friends all over town as kids, we'd always have someone's guest pass to borrow for the summer. Summer in Ringwood was a constant succession of SuperSoaker battles, Chipwitch ice cream sandwiches on the sand and SWIMS.
Cupsaw Lake, Ringwood NJ - I loved it there, especially the high dive and chasing after sightings of the legendary snapping turtle we named, Big Ben.
I LOVE to swim. There weren't very many families in Ringwood affluent enough to have their own swimming pool, but on the rare occasion that our family got invited to a party or BBQ with a pool, my brother Joey and I were LIVING. I remember one family in particular that had a HUGE, round, above ground pool that somehow went to about 8 ft in the center, like the bottom of a cone. This pool also had a diving board, a 15 ft high dive, and a SLIDE.
We would swim with the other kids in that pool, playing volleyball and all swimming counter clockwise to make a SUPER VORTEX until our lips were blue and quivering as the sun set and we STILL pleaded to stay in as long as possible.
When there was no one to play with, I'd challenge myself to see how long I could hold my breath and sit at the bottom of a pool or lake for. That transition of sound between the activity of kids yelling and splashing to the muffled silence made me feel like I was in my own private world where no one was in charge but, me.
I wanted to be a fish, BAD
I'm a Pisces, (surprised?) but I was brought up to believe that horoscopes were evil so I never really knew what that meant until later in life. I try not to let that stuff rule me, being probably far too mystical, to begin with, but I've noticed that little newspaper horoscopes for Pisces are rarely too far off base, and I definitely identify with the typical personality traits of a Pisces, so take from that what you will.
Convinced I would grow up to be a marine biologist, my entire room was blues and greens. I remember so vividly laying on my back in my whale and dolphin bed sheets in bed, zoning out to the glowing blue lamp that projected a sad attempt at water ripples on the ceiling listening to the bubble and hum of the water filter of my fish tank housing my three 3 goldfish. Cliff, Liza, and Henry.
Unlike a lot of kids my age, I didn't have a computer, tv, or phone in my room. And I was really only ever reminded of what I "didn't have " when I was at school or hanging out with my friends on my block. When I was in that room I was always content.
(I even used to set up our family's camping tent in the middle of the room and sleep in Dad's OG "Boyscouts Of America" sleeping bag from the 50's. My parents couldn't for the life of me figure out why I'd willingly sleep on the floor. I loved it. )
Me, Dad and Joey. I told you, we were LIVING when we were swimming!
For awhile last summer @teamhumble and I were heading to the local health club for weekly swims, to get our keyboard warrior bodies moving and to open up the lungs. And even though sometimes it was crowded, all it took was a dip under the surface and you're transported to another world all your own.
Also, naps after a good swim is the absolute BEST.
During my time back in the states, I've looked for places to go swim, but it seems down here there's not much need, people are wealthy to have their own pools if they want them, and the few public and health club pools are available for a hefty monthly price.
I'm dog and house sitting for one of my favorites next week (a dog named Bella) who lives in a very high-end town not too far by, and although it's probably a long shot I'm HOPING they have their pool open.
(That's another thing, so many people who have pools around here don't even open them?!! Guess it's not worth the time or expense to them, blows my mind. Can anyone explain this to me??)
I hope in the future I always have the option to swim or to be set up near a large body of water when I found out what an awesome pool an in-ground upside down shipping container makes, I was even more sold on the idea of setting up shop with one someplace remote.
But until then, I'll keep pouring my H2O fueled, mystical Pisces dreams into the blockchain and do the best I can.
