Trying to Enjoy the Water

I'll be honest; I am not a big fan of water. Never have been and probably never will. Even when I was little, I had no desire to learn how to swim, even though practically everyone else I knew was swimming and having the time of their lives. I guess I could never get over my fear of drowning. To me (and I am sure many people will agree with me), drowning and being burned to death are two of the worst ways to die. We went to the Wisconsin Dells water park when I was around eight years old and remember going into the wave pool and being sucked under a wave. It caught me off guard and freaked me out pretty badly. A few years later, I went into a deep area of the lake at my uncle's camp and started panicing; thrashing around in the water trying to stay afloat. Luckily a cousin pulled me into a shallow area. Needless to say, I've had scary moments with water that I will probably never get over. Most of the time on a hot day, people will head to the beach. I'd rather head into a place with air conditioning.

Visiting my uncle's camp and spending time with my cousins was probably one of the best moments I remember in the summer time when I was little. But I must admit, I'd always get annoyed at their persistence in getting me to learn how to water ski. For many summers, I'd always put it off, coming up with some sort of an excuse. Finally, when they had other people trying to learn how to water ski, I succumbed to their pressure. I gave it the old college try and struck out on my first adventure. And wouldn't you know, that was my only attempt since. I ended up losing my balance and diving face first into the water. I remember dropping down into the water and eventually bobbing up to the surface. It was the weirdest feeling and it pretty much freaked me out. There were many times when I'd ride in the back of the boat and watched my cousins on water skis and was awed at their talents. And it wasn't just skis, but wake boards as well. But I was never envious at what they were able to do behind that boat. It simply did not interest me in learning how to water ski. And the thought of suddenly losing my balance and falling out in the middle of the lake where the water is 50 or more feet deep was not too pleasant of a thought, either.

I never really got a big kick out of riding Sea Doos, either. I really don't understand the fascination behind them. This was another water toy that my uncle owned. I took a few rides with my cousin on a Sea Doo and ended up flipping the thing - not once, but twice. And even though in all of these experiences I had life jackets on, it was still not good enough for me. Just the thought of going overboard and dropping into the water was enough to scare the living daylights out of me. An enjoyable day at the lake for me is to simply wade in a shallow end of the lake, maybe ride an innertube, and just relax. I'm not into the watercraft, high-speed fun. What can I say, I'm kind of boring when it comes to that stuff.

And even though I have a fear of the water (yes, I have come to this conclusion some time ago), I still enjoy heading out to the beach every once in awhile to cool off. It's been incredibly hot the past few days and the thought of taking a dip in Lake Superior seems so refreshing this evening. I think that's where I am going to head right now.