Water Therapy

When I a child, I thought like a child in that I mistakenly assumed backyard swimming pools, park district swimming pools, beach clubs, and summer vacations by lakes were the norm - because that is what my family did.

But a lack of resources (either time, money, or both) and husbands who were afraid of water (due to near-drowning experiences, perfectly understandable) meant that I've spent most of my adult life away from water.

My return water came in 2015 when I visited Sarah and her family in North Carolina and went out on Falls Lake in their pontoon boat for a day of boating and swimming. 

Because I enjoyed it so much, her husband Sean always took one day off work when I came out so we could also go out on the boat. Twice, Sarah also made the two-hour drive to Wilmington to the Atlantic Ocean.

But I haven't spent a week in North Carolina since 2019 (COVID, finances, other responsibilities at home). I'm hoping May/June 2025 will break that trend since my grandson Lucas will graduate from high school and (of course) I'll want to be there.

This past weekend, I spent two afternoons in a swimming pool with family, the best two summer weekends since 2019. I was originally going to post a few photos but - honestly - I was having too much fun to take photos.

Instead, here are three videos of water beauty from earlier North Caroline trips. Enjoy - and Happy Monday!

Atlantic Ocean, Wilmington, North Carolina, August 2016

Falls Lake North Carolina, August 2017

                                                 Falls Lake North Carolina, August 2019

Fifty-Two Minutes of Summer

"She was the lake."

This is the opening line of the third chapter in the third installment of the BryonySeries novel Before The Blood.

And it kept running through my head through the fifty-two minutes I spent immersed in Falls Lake, North Caroline a few weeks ago.

I don't know if early childhood experiences shaped my love for water or if that love is something innate

All I know is that summer, for me, is associated with water, and summer is never summer without swimming, lakes, oceans.

I've been married twice and both husbands were afraid of water. So out of respect, we never engaged in activities that might trigger that fear.

I didn't travel during the pandemic, so no Falls Lake for me.

The last time I saw Falls Lake was 2019. And I remember thinking as I paddled in the waters that a year was a long time, but not really, that 2020 would be here before I knew it.

Well, we all know what happened in 2020.

But then circumstances prevented my from traveling in 2021.

As the summer of 2022 was closing, I couldn't believe another summer was to vanish without being truly summer.

But Timothy and I finally had an opportunity to fly to Raleigh for a couple of days shortly after Labor Day to see my father who is not well.

Four of us (Timothy, Sarah, Lucas, and me) had our lunch one day by the lake. And then we had fifty-two minutes to enjoy the lake before we had to leave.

Timothy snapped this photo shortly before we headed to the restrooms to change.

Fifty-two minutes isn't a long time.

But it was fifty-two minutes I didn't think I'd have this year.

And it must do until 2023.

Falls Lake, North Carolina

BryonySeries Throwback Thursday: A Few Raleigh Videos

Thursday, September 3, 2015

A Few Raleigh Videos

Playing Chutes and Ladders with Lucas, Rebekah, Sarah

The lazy river at Buffalo Road Aquatic Center

Lucas bowls a bumper strike

Lucas makes a wish at Goodberry's Frozen Custard

Walking/biking the trail behind Sarah's house

At Rum Runners

A view from the Stegall boat

Lyrics David Guetta feat.sia - Titanium