Thursday, March 05, 2009

Counting My Blessings, and Tears [GASP]


This afternoon after work I did something unusual. I swam in the outdoor pool at Old Eds. That's not the unusual part - but doing this in March is. Yip, the water was chilly, and the air had a nip in it.

Going there, through all the traffic, and then the chokkabloc parking terrain around the club and then arriving to find my swim buddy ensconced in an unhappy cellphone conversation that lasted about 15 minutes...it wasn't a setup that you'd think would leave you thinking that the world is filled with beauty and wonder.



But it kinda snuck up on me. Something else that snuck up on me this week...tears. You won't believe it, I was watching - of all things - an X-Men movie, and not for the first time. It's about the reserection of Jean Gray...although it's not the Jean Gray we know...but a kind've construct...the joy, the power and the rage...this persona seemed to survive.

I'm not sure what brought on the tears. I think it was firstly the way Wolverine and Storm find the professor, and despite their strength, they are defeated by the terrible sadness of the moment, having lost a good man. I think we can all identify with that feeling where good intentions are defeated, good ideas are allowed to be ruined or ignored, actions in service to our fellow man are treated with violence, or contempt or dismissed in some way or another.

At the end, when Jean Gray erupts, her rage is uncontrollable, omnipotent and in some ways justifiable. The same may be true of our own feelings. This is a sad truth, and one that made me weep so that tears streamed down my neck.

That was earlier this week. Today the prospect of swimming at sunset wasn't necessarily pleasant. And the sets were tough, the water very rough with all the water polo players doing their thing besides our lanes. Nicky managed to maintain 1:15's, I was coming in 1:19 and 1:20. The setting sun's rays filtering weakly through the water, creating soft golden feathers of light, dissipating into rainbows...this was in the environment in which we kicked bubbles, pulled our arms and bodies through the fizzy spray.

It's the sense of community I think - a lot of very different people, of differing age and mindset and background - gathering around something as simple but invigorating as a pool. It makes something as simple as swimming training a rich experience. You have a couple tanning on one side, a few youngsters trying to improve their swimming, and then oddballs like myself - training for a triathlon, and my lane partner, preparing for place in the SA women's water polo squad.


Before my last length I noticed the beautiful twilight making patterns of silver and yellow and pink on the water's twittering, heaving surface. A gym pool has none of these things. It is a sterile place. Simply by coming out doors, having a body of water under the sky, and touched by the wind, and filling it up with different faces and voives, imbues this simple experience with magic.

Driving home I reflected that I live in an extraordinary neighborhood. We share it with Nelson Mandela. I must find out exactly where he lives. Perhaps camp on his sidewalk for a day or two in an effort to get a glimpse, and one decent photo, of the man, while he is still around.
Here it's filled with leafy crescents, and cyclists.

And here, at the end of a long summer, it makes sense to count blessings like health, the places we occupy (especially when they're meaningful places, filled with parks and attention) and the people we share it with.

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