Eyes Wide Shut

I came across this circa 1960's photo of myself and my siblings swimming in some upstate NY lake. I'm the one pretending to swim by touching the bottom, eyes closed, hair completely dry, left foot pointing to the sky.

As I look at this photo, I think of two things: one, my swimming, or at least my aversion to swimming, has not changed much and two, maybe our lakes were as polluted in the 60's as they are today.

Often when we reflect back in time we think of how much has changed. Looking at this photo, I think how much has stayed the same. While my form is much improved in the water there are still evident flaws that can be captured by film. I cannot touch bottom in the bodies of water I swim in today (nor would I necessarily want to) but I still close my eyes and cringe when I get in and I generally spend my entire swim waiting for it to be over. The water can be refreshing for sure but it is no secret I swim to get to the bike and run.

My access to swimmable water is not as readily available as it was in my youth and I desperately miss the upstate NY lakes. Admittedly part of this longing is based on a revision of history--those lakes were not necessarily as clean and pure as I remember them and the proof has apparently been documented.