Smells

Smells. They are simply amazing and I wonder how different the world would be without them. Such an odd thought don't you think? But I only bring it up because the other day a particular smell brought back a flood of memories.

I used to be a swimmer. I learned to swim when I was about eight or nine. Sort of old for my age but I really hated the water as a small child. Not sure why - but I just didn't like it. I remember my mom throwing me in a swimming pool (I had a life jacket on) at a birthday party - I had to have been five or so and when I was tossed in the jacket pulled above my head and I couldn't see anything around me but orange - my legs kicking - arms flailing and my voice screaming. I don't know if I was screaming because I was angry about being thrown in, or scared of being in the water. Yet, it isn't this part of the story that matters...it is the fact that from the age of nine to seventeen I spent the majority of my free time swimming competitively.

I enjoyed it and for the life of me I'm not sure why. But for those eight years I spent a lot of time and hours in the pool - fall, winter, spring and summer. Chlorine is a smell in and of itself - not a very friendly smell or one that you want to bottle and sell - but it is a smell - a faintness of it on a swim suit or wet towel that makes me remember some of the best times.

I loved my first competitive swim team - it was one for the Rockford Community Ed. I think they are called the Riptide now - but I remember Chris Ingrahm, and Bill Kemp some of my first coaches. I remember my first competitive swim suit - it was red with white strips - I remember my first DQ, the stuffed Ram on the 3m diving board. I remember sharks and minnows and swimming on Valentines Day holding hands for a sweetheart swim with Mike Westgate (he probably would never remember - but it stuck in my head).

I remember dry land and weight lifting - Jenny Moore hitting her chin on the bottom of the pool and being nicknamed "Chin Strap" for the rest of her community ed career. I remember my first relay team Anna, Katrina, Ashley and me. We formed friendships and community and some of my best memories were from the times I swam.

I remember drinking chocolate shakes at the Old Mill in Rockford and getting my best times and thinking I had to have a chocolate shake each and every time....2:16 in the 200 free - it was my personal best as a 10 or 11 year old.

I remember thinking I wanted to be a part of the Monster Squad - and working my rear end off to be a part of Spyke Johnson's crew - never really made the offical "sqad" but put in the work to be a 'thunderbird' - 5:30 swims before school and the 5:00-7:00 swims after. I remember Reggie Thomas and his sign language - Raider swim camps and Dick Koperski. I remember earning my Varisty letter as a freshman and being the only freshman to place in city finals.


So the other day, when I decided to get back in the pool and swim laps (which has been at least 9 years) I swam at the pool I first began my swimming career. The diving boards are gone and the starting blocks are at the deep end now (probably because Jenny Moore wasn't the only one that hit the bottom). I began thinking a ton of thoughts: how boring is this, why did I ever like this, how did I ever make friends, I think I liked this because I never felt sweat drip down my face or back, I wonder how far I can swim, I wonder what happened to Chris and Bill...and then before I knew it - time was up. I had to get out.

Yet, after I was dressed and leaving the locker room, and heading out the door - I had the "smell" the crisp air smell - the smell I remember so many years ago and I knew - I've missed that smell. I felt good. I felt happy and I knew I couldn't wait to get back in the pool.

The smell of crisp air. It was amazing.