grace number thirty four
today i am most grateful for summer swimming in the pond at the "camp"...

my grandparents have a little summer cottage nearby, and it is located just a few steps off a pond. my grandfather actually built the shack before my mom was born, so our family has been going there forever. there is a little man made beach off the water, and i've been swimming there since i was a little baby. my pop pop and mom were actually the people who taught me how to swim in those waters. even before i could swim, i would climb on someone's back and hold on to them while they swam around.

there are two rafts in those waters we would swim to and play on. i don't know what everyone else calls them, but to my family, one is called the little raft, and the other named the big raft (creative, i know!) anyway, when i was young, i was only allowed to swim out to the little raft (water level was just a foot or two above my head) then as i got older, i was allowed to venture off to the big raft. wowee. i felt like a real adult then! i would swim there, then lay on the raft and suntan. or i would dive off the raft over and over. front dives, back dives, attempted flips, etc. it was there i decided to join my high school swim team. i was convinced i was a swimming and diving pro! (uh, reality check once i joined!)

i've always loved being outdoors, being on the sand, walking through the grass, wading through the waters. i'm so lucky to have had such a great place at my disposal. i'm so glad i did, and still do take advantage of it.