Bonnie

I have been getting in the water since July 2023.  I decided to get in because I saw a group of women doing it and realized that I could.  I have lived on the water in a houseboat in the San Francisco Bay for 18 years, but the first time I swam here was in a cold February, shortly after my husband died.  I was locked out of the yacht harbor, and decided to swim home at midnight.  I found that there were no easy ways to get on my dock and as I swam around looking for a ladder, began to be hypothermic and scared.  When I got back into the bay 17 years later, I remembered that one thing that I am proudest of is having swum in all the oceans of the world, including the Antarctic. Last week, I swam in all 5 Great Lakes in one day, and that, too, filled me with pride.  Proud of the planning, proud of the doing.  It was a beautiful way to experience the lakes and kept me energized through the 12 hours of driving.  If someone had told me last year that, upon retirement, I would choose such an adventure or to get up at 6:30 in the morning to swim in really cold water, I would have laughed.  But now, I laugh with joy.