Just like flying

I woke up with the sound of wind banging on the windows. During the summer I sleep with the shutters closed and the windows open so that I can feel the fresh air in the house. I raced around from window to window, closing each one. I had to run out into the yard in my pajamas to save a book that had been left overnight outside on a table. I secured the lawnmower which had already been pushed up against the fence. Then the rain started to come down. It only lasted thirty minutes, if that. But I knew it was enough to scare away any prospective swimmers from going to the outdoor pool. As soon as the worst of the storm was over I headed to the pool.

When I arrived the lifeguard was busy tweezing out ingrown hairs on his legs from a bad wax job. There were a few other swimmers, but the pool is big enough that I had my own swimming lane. My very own fifty metre swimming lane! Heaven. I warmed up with 1000 metres and then did 500 metres of technique. At the end of that I decided before swimming another 1000 metres I would stretch my back out. I took a board, flipped onto my back and stretched my arms up over my head using the board to keep my arms balanced but then just did soft kicks with my legs under the water. My ears were under the water so everything was silent. I had taken my goggles off so what I saw looking up was this:

I immediately started to uncontrollably giggle. I just couldn't help myself. The sensation was one of the most exhilirating that I've ever had. I lifted my head to look around...the other swimmer was still swimming and the lifeguard had moved onto a conversation on his cell phone while massaging his pecs. I set myself up in the same position: on my back, ears under water, looking at the clouds... again came the uncontrollable giggling. And then it came to me why. It felt like flying. No gravity, clouds swirling around, silence... It's the easiest high I've had in a really long time. It only lasted about a minute because then the sun came out and I couldn't see without squinting and I couldn't get that same situation in play again...but out of all the swimming I've done this summer that will be the one moment I'll always remember.