Taking Chances

I can’t swim, at all. Though I’m 5’10”, there was a time when I couldn’t even stand in a swimming pool that had a water depth of 4 feet high without my body clenching up and tightening. Even though the water reaches up to my pecs, I have this morbid fear of slipping and falling and for some reason, any reason (pick one) not being able to stand up, and drowning.
I have a nephew who can swim like a fish. He loves swimming. He learned at a really young age. When we hang out, one of his favorite pastimes is to swim at the local YMCA, and I like to chill out on the chaise, relaxing until he’s ready to leave. I keep saying to myself that one day I’m going to surprise and impress him by having taken a swimmers course and showing him a thing or two about swimming. He’d love that because he’s always trying to coax me into standing in the water. I can at least do that now, but I prefer to stand along the edge and hold on, just in case I slip and fall. I know it can’t be as scary as it seems. I know that once I get over my fear I will look back and laugh. I hope.
Life is about taking chances, about doing things that are scary. Like my uprooting from Wisconsin to Oregon almost 2 yrs ago, to accept a great job. It was scary because my family, a lot of my friends, and everything with whom I was familiar,I left behind, to go to unfamiliar territory where I only knew 1 good friend and his wife, and no one else. I do enjoy my job and the people with whom I work though...I feel like I made the right decision. If it bores me I can always visit my best friend who lives in Los Angeles, which is less than a 3-hour flight!