Ability to Swim

I mentioned in the last post that I write poems about what seems mundane at first glance, but actually can be beautifully complex because they are snared with nostalgia.  One of my shortest poems is exactly that.  It's called Ability to Swim and the only line is Thanks Mom!

The back story of that gratitude is that my mom, like so many moms out there, cared enough to help me and my siblings learn so many things.  Specific to my story is that my mom didn't want us to be afraid of the water like she was because she didn't feel confident around water.  She wanted us to enjoy swimming like she saw so many other people do. She took us to lessons even when we didn't want to go.  She encouraged us when we wanted to swim in the deep end, but were afraid to take the deep water test.  She took us to the Y near my great grandmother's house so many Friday evenings in the winter because it was an activity that all her children loved.

I guess what it boils down to is that this is another post about gratitude.  At the end of the day, that's what holds me in place in what can be a very difficult, complex world, where we deal with sickness and death and all the fears in between.
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Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, I'd love to hear from you and the community would love to hear from you!  Your comment could have a major impact on someone else; most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.

Reflective questions:
1.  What are you afraid of?

2.  What are you grateful for?

3.  What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)

* I use the term God as a universal term.  You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, etc. better suits you today.  It is not for me to decide.

Picture of fallen Pennypack Tree (underside of root ball) by MH