On being a Mermaid

"A Mermaid" By John William Waterhouse

The other day, I  was struggling with motivation. It was the end of a long day, after a long week, smack in the middle of what has been a pretty long year and I just did not have the motivation to get myself in the pool. I was tired and achy and cranky and just wanted to go make love to my couch. I asked my facebook friends for help and my dear friend Roland simply said "mermaids belong in the water."  Half an hour later I was in the pool. 

I'm not going to claim that it was only centuries ago that my people came out of the water, or that I'm the great great great granddaughter of the mermaids from Peter Pan, but I will say I've always been much more comfortable in the water than out.  A chubby kid who was slow and clumsy on land, I was quick and graceful underwater. I prayed to wake up one morning with gills. When the little mermaid opted for a life on land, just for a guy, I thought she was an idiot. Last weekend I was in NJ for a wedding with my parents, sisters, niece and friends who are essentially family.  As we passed my niece around in the water, I remembered how as children, we used to play mermaids for hours, diving through the water chasing one another and pretending to understand the dolphins as they clicked beneath the waves. I may not biologically be half fish, but, in my heart, I'm really a mermaid.

In training for the swim this year, my inner mermaid has finally surfaced and being in the water has become the most natural thing in the world. Yesterday, I swam with the team in the Hudson, a little more than a mile and a quarter and it felt as natural as breathing. What used to be work has become second nature and I'd rather be swimming than almost anything else. This year, I have little doubt that I will make it across the Hudson, but I am worried that I will fall short on everything else. At work, I am single-handedly responsible for a tag sale of which I want no part , my apartment desperately needs cleaning and I have a long way to go to meet my fundraising goals for this swim. This year the real work will be on land---and I'll need all the help I can get.  I hope you will continue to cheer me on, as you have in the past, keeping me focused and, when you are able, donating to the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in support of my efforts.  

Thank you.