Drowning Can be Fun!

(Dammit! I have a really cool picture of a cartoon drowning and I can't upload it!)

So, I went to the lake this past weekend. And the weather was really hot so I actually got to go swimming. When I was younger, I used to be a really good swimmer. But over the years, I went swimming less and less. I don't like swimming in oceans, pools or ponds. I only like swimming in my lake. (And, of course, there is the standard girl defense that I don't like myself in a bathing suit). But once or twice a summer it's hot enough that I can't stand it and must go swimming.

This time, Amber went with me. She also used to be a really good swimmer but for the same reasons I mentioned above, she doesn't swim much anymore either.

As it happened on this hot day, the lake was really wavy. Wavy enough that if we had boogy boards we could have body surfed. Amber and I are not this adventurous and are just happy to paddle around. So we get ourselves ducked and proceed to swim out past the buoys (I'm rotten at distances so let's say over 100 feet from shore). In our younger years, this was nothing. Now...it's a little more challenging. We swim out and then back. When we get back to the shallows, Amber gasps: "Because...pant, pant...we're swimming against the waves...pant, pant...it's a much more challenging work out..pant."

I agree. "Yes...pant, pant...that's it. It's not...pant, pant...because we're...pant...out of shape."

So we swim back out again. This time a wave hits Amber in the face and she swallows some water. She starts to cough and choke. I tread water beside her while she finishes. "Ummm...if I start to drown, can you save me?" she asks.

I think about it for a moment. "Well, I can watch you drown or I can try to save you and die with you."

She starts to laugh and another wave hits her in the face. This makes me laugh and then a wave hits ME in the face, which makes Amber laugh harder.

"At this rate, we're BOTH going to die. And then we can haunt the lake and lure innocent swimmers to their doom!" I giggle between coughs.

So we finally get far enough out (oh yes, we kept going), and then turn back. The second turn was no better, stamina wise. We get to the shallows and are still panting like we ran a marathon (the laughing probably didn't help). After we get our breath back, I look at Amber: "Wanna go again?"

"SURE!"

And so, the two morons went back out despite the fact that they nearly died. This time back I swallowed some water and started to choke. I ask Amber, "If I start to drown, can you save me?"

Amber keeps swimming. "No. You'll just have to save yourself."

This makes me laugh harder and then I start to sink. "Come on!" Amber cries. "It's just another 4 feet until you can touch bottom. No sense in dying now!"

Well, we both survived our swimming expedition but we decided we probably shouldn't go swimming by ourselves from now on. Way too dangerous.