the pool day.
oh! what a day, i thought to myself, you just couldn’t align it any better. my lunch break began and i couldn’t think of a better idea than go for a nice swim. it was beautiful.. warm, sunny, the water just the perfect cool temperature! what’s that i see as i walk towards the pool at my gym—an open space in the lap swimming lanes. open!! what a marvelous opportunity that has befallen me!
today was different. and i was certain my feeling was correct as soon as i spoke with my lane companion. i walked over to greet her. hi there, i say, do you mind if i share the lane with you, my smile is nearly brimming over—after all, it’s the perfect day for a swim!
time for the acknowledgement. what’s this, you ask? well, it’s the thing to do in any lap swimming circumstance. there’s laws in the swimming community about this stuff, you know..one that goes a little something like this:
‘if any person shall require or hope to share a lane with another person, it is an unspoken maxim that he/she who is second to the lane shall acknowledge in some way/form that there is sharing is about to occur.’
option one: the head nod. acknowledgement by a head-nod is one method.. to which i usually smile and nod; the swimmer that employs this method is a no-bones about them sort of swimmer, i get that. no small talk here and that’s plenty fine.
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| my treasured lifeguarding days where i made people share lanes and be nice! |
as i was saying, there was an awkward pause… followed by more awkward pausing. with the most sour of sour expressions, my lane companion replied …i guess i don’t have a choice. hmm alrighty i say kind of shocked, glancing to make sure i hadn’t missed a wide open lane, my last ditch effort to see if there’s somebody—anyyyybody—else to swim with. but no. no chance. i hop in and brush it off.
as i get moving and come down the right side of the lane, my new friend is performing backstroke down the center, causing me to cozy up against the wall scraping my arm! but i continue on, because really—that sort of thing just happens. but then! a few minutes later, i make a turn at the wall (not a flip) and notice an intense scowl firing my way. and later, as we pass again, she’s on a kickboard and she’s dogging me!! i finished up my swim after about thirty more minutes of side eyes from her and hop out. she gets out shortly after and rolls her eyes at me when i sneeze.
i smile even bigger this time.. she didn’t notice.
conclusion: be nice!!!!
to all the ladies doing laps at the local gym, let’s all learn a little poolside politeness and we’ll all get along much better. and to all the other people of the land who are prone to dogging people, let’s all give it a nice healthy try and be nice! i promise i’ll try, too 🙂
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