Water is My Safe Haven

Water is My Safe Haven

Everyone, once in their life, searches for a place or thing to get away and to be by themselves for awhile. When they find this place or thing, it provides them with the comfort, stability, and vitality they may need. It can be a library, the outdoors, a car, the front porch, or even a swimming pool, where they feel the safest, the most comfortable, or feel like all their burdens, all of their worries may be washed away. For me that place is the water; a river, a lake, a beach, a swimming pool, wherever there is water, that’s where I‘ll be.

I was always afraid of the water. I was always afraid to leave the edge of the pool and to swim off in the middle. The pool was a big place where water was on all sides, it was stronger than me, and it intimidated me. Swimming for me was like a dog paddling the water. It was hard, and I was a young and confused on the mechanics of swimming. I can remember being thrown in the pool very often, that being a tactic my Mother used to get me to swim. It worked sometimes but other times I needed assistance.

I can remember when I joined the swim team as a freshmen in high school. I wanted to get over my fear of water and wanted to learn how to swim. Goggles in hand, swim cap tightly fitted on my head. My legs shaking. The smell of freshly applied sunscreen coming through my pores. Beads of sweat dripping from my forehead. Nervousness overpowering my body. I was scared. This was it, I’d have to swim. No more holding on walls. A big pool surrounded by walls, a diving board, and 13 feet of water. There was no way I was backing out. The question was could I do it?

I got into the pool. It was cool against my warm skin. Lilies floated by. Bugs buzzed...

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... me. It created this big barrier from the outside world; we were one. I treaded the water afraid of letting go of the wall, and I swam to the middle of the pool. My brother raced towards me and we swam together. I was getting tired of swimming to and from each wall, but I was having fun. We decided to take a break. We pulled ourselves out of the pool from the side. Relief had overpowered us as we lay our cool bodies on the hot concrete. The heat began to warm us up so we decided to get back in. That was a day where my brother and I felt as if we were really kids. Wild and adventurous, loving the water. The water was my place of comfort outside of my grandparents’ home. I couldn’t take Mississippi with me to California, but wherever I went, there would ultimately be water, and I could always take that with me, I’d always have a piece of Oxford, I’d always have water.