The Swimming Story

Once upon a time there was a little girl. This little girl swam. She was an amazing swimmer. The hardest stroke was her best stroke. The little girl swam in the morning, she swam after school. She swam in the summer and she swam all year long. This little girl had a long lean body that was built to swim. Strong arms that made her go fast and this little girl found joy in winning. She was so good at swimming, that eventually the coach decided she needed to race against the older girls to make it fair. Even then, every time this little girl swam, she brought home gold medals.

One morning, after this little girl was done with her warm up, her coach called her out of the water to talk to her. Coach told her about this amazing opportunity to train at the University of Washington and begin to prepare for the Junior Olympics.
The little girl listened to her coach, and as she listened she watched the water drip from her body into a puddle on the floor. She listened to him talk, and watched her moms face for clues. And when her coach was done talking, this little girl looked at him and simply said "no." Then she walked into the locker room and never ever swam again.

The years went by and the little girl grew up. She grew up and got married, had a baby, lost babies, adopted a baby, but she never swam. She grew up and went to work and gained weight and made friends, but she never swam. She grew up and lost weight and gained weight over and over again and still she never swam. She grew up and cried everytime she watched the Olympics. This little girl grew up and can't help but wonder....what if she had tried?

Once upon a time, there was a grown up girl...and she was considering buying a swim suit and getting in the pool.