It was well over a year ago that I found myself completely disgusted with myself. After a period of holiday debauchery, I could not believe the paunch in front of me. It was mine; all mine. Fortunately, my bathroom mirror only showed as far down as the hip and I’m shortsighted anyway, but these were some sad depths I had sunken to. I knew that much.
Back to the pool, I told myself, and you are going to become a regular. I’m not an athlete, let’s get that clear. I like to walk, but my dodgy arthritic knee doesn’t allow much of it these days, so power walking is out, and running is laughable. My favorite place in the world just about is the water, so it was an obvious choice for a January morning, where and when my exercise routine would recommence.
My next challenge, however, was that I am not an early morning person. Or, at least, I didn’t used to be. My sister lives for a dark morning — 5 a.m. in winter and she is literally up before the birds and getting on with her day. Even on weekends she never takes advantage of a lie-in or succumbs to sluggishness like the rest of us. Could I be at the pool at 7-ish weekday mornings for water aerobics? Seems as if I could, if I really wanted to.
I’ve always enjoyed water aerobics, weights in the water, splashing around. You can act as if you are dancing, even if you don’t have a clue what you are doing and, whatever it is, is definitely not dancing. The superb thing is that nobody cares. For a while, we had aerobic instructors in the water with us. “Ski-ing, one-two-three … march in place … leap frog …” I have to be about the most uncoordinated person I know with no sense of rhythm, but the water is all-forgiving. You just keep on moving and follow along where you can.
I came to realize that my old achy body was craving these water sessions. Even at 7 a.m. After a couple of months, I was feeling stronger, more buoyant, I was sleeping better at night. Though, sadly, water aerobics cannot vanquish my arthritis, somehow it made it more manageable. I was not taking the pain pills I had been, I was a bit lighter on my feet. This water aerobic discipline was working!
A year on and I’m still there with the early morning aerobic crew, whenever possible. We call ourselves “The Mermaids” — we all love the water and know of its enormous benefit in our lives. Many of us have physical issues and we know we feel better in the water, so it’s an absolute no-brainer. Water is the magic elixir of life — our discipline and our religion.
These days we have aerobics with Stacy or Some Other three days a week on a television screen next to the pool and that is just fine. Though Stacy is about four decades my junior, I do try and follow along and exert myself to her level when I can. The other two days we go freestyle, bouncing around in our own little worlds with weights, noodles, hand weights, back weights … once you enter this world, there is quite the accoutrement of equipment you can acquire to be just so in your happy place.
I like to start off with my own personal mid-sized weights, followed by the heavier ones, once I am warmed up. From there I might do some free-style, no weights, just — ahem — dancing in the water, followed by the noodle to the deep end and some stretching. It’s a whole thing, a routine, a regime and I’m not happy with myself if I get out of the water in under an hour. I feel as if I have ripped off my body and my well-being. It’s something us mermaids schedule into our lives, and we don’t give it up lightly.
Oh, and the banter in the pool is quite something to behold. You can talk and do water weights at the same time, come to find out, and most of us do. Like chewing gum and riding a bicycle, kinda. Because of the mental cleansing the water aerobics affords us, it is best to avoid the world’s trickier subjects and stay in our lane, as it were.
We talk about books and films, traveling, art and animals. It’s quite the collective group, The Mermaids and we have, somehow, become good friends. My co-mermaids support the animal rescue SCAR and buy my books. We check in on the ones who can’t make the pool for whatever reason and plan for potlucks and get-togethers. There’s something about the water that is common ground for like-minded spirits.
I’m pretty sure that I shall always be a water baby, a mermaid, eventually a water “old person” should I be gifted with extra time on this planet. I was born by the water on the East Coast of England and water always calls my name, wherever I go. Winter and summer mornings, these days, you will find me at the Soledad pool with the other mermaids, some of us sporting fetching water T-shirts and not-matching woolly hats in the winter. We will make room in the summer for the less-than mermaids, the summer water babies who will start coming back to the water once the clocks change and leave once winter calls. We still give them their space in the aqua gathering and welcome them back from months away, doing whatever people do when they are not in the water.
I love my time with the Mermaids, and I cannot imagine being without them. When I travel these days, I take my equipment along with me and try to find a body of water where I can continue my regime. It has gone from a less-than habit, to a habit, to a mandatory way of life. I highly recommend it to anyone looking down at their body in disgust and beating themselves up over it, as I was well over a year ago. Not only is my body doing better but my mind is equally. Of all the choices I have made in my life, this lifestyle choice has been up there with the best.
The Soledad pool is more than just swimming for sure. It is a lifestyle that many of us take advantage of. We are so fortunate to have the pool in our town and I encourage you to check out their programs (soledadrec.org). Even if the crack of dawn is not your thing and never will be, the Soledad pool has a generous schedule to fit in with all kinds of folk. You won’t regret getting your feet wet.
