The Day My Father Really Was My Dad

I stood at the edge and looked across the pool, to where I was supposed to swim. It was only 25 yards of calm, chlorinated water, but it might as well have been the murky, choppy currents of the Atlantic. This was the last day of swimming lessons. To pass, one simply had to swim the length of the pool – without touching the side. I was five-years-old with only one thought:

I stood at the edge and looked across the pool, to where I was supposed to swim. It was only 25 yards of calm, chlorinated water, but it might as well have been the murky, choppy currents of the Atlantic. This was the last day of swimming lessons. To pass, one simply had to swim the length of the pool – without touching the side. I was five-years-old with only one thought:…