Brought to you by the letter P

(Kinda stole that from Thelma - thanks, babe.)

Two of the things I love: the Pool and the Piano. See, the letter P.

I have had a good day. A really good day.

It started out with a surprise visit from a great friend! She drove by right as I was out getting the mail. She drove to Temple and back in time to pick up her kids at school. OK, the synogogue, that is, not Temple, Texas. Silly Amamy. I held up baby kitty in the window so she could see. She was suitably impressed.

That occurrance brings me to my first P. There are just some things that you do that feel so right, so very You. It may be caring for a baby, curling up in your favorite chair reading, or bringing meals to the elderly. When you are doing that Thing, you are practically invisible to yourself. My thing 1 is the swimming pool. I learned to swim when I was teeny, and almost drowned once. I swam in my first community swim meet at 7 years old in Lake Sherwood, California, and my dad took me to my first official meet in Ojai, CA the next year. I won my race. I grew up with access to a pool, joined the swim team as a kiddo and never stopped until I graduated from college. When I am in the pool, at the pool, or looking at the pool, I am Home.

I swim laps during the summer for exercise. My last lap of the day is scouring the bottom of the pool for my shadow. There I transcend space and time, and I am happier than a fish in the sea. I love to look at my shadow in the pool. My features have changed over the years, of course, but my silhouette is the same as it ever was. I'm bald in the pool, but I can see tendrils that have escaped my glamorous rubber cap as they shimmer under the water. This is my handstand lap, too. When I'm in there, I am ageless. I'm just Me.

My next P is the piano. This week I have been practicing a lot because Randy and I are playing piano/guitar in a wedding. So, instead of me spending endless hours on the internet, I am spending them at the piano. Again, it's so totally Me. I started piano when I was 6'ish. At my first lesson I thought I was so grown up, and I sat at the piano bench in my teacher's apartment (I hadn't ever remembered being in an aprtment before that) and crossed my legs like I had seen grown-ups do. My teacher said, "You need to have both feet on the floor," and I felt like I had gotten in trouble. So sensitive (some things never change).

When I was in high school I was miserable. I think I was clinically depressed for awhile, although I was never diagnosed. There were only two things I wanted to do. Run (???????) and play the piano. I wrote my college entrance essay on my most prized possession. You guessed it, my piano. Some day, some how, I am going to have myself a grand piano. A grand day it will be indeed.

The internet is a wonderful thing. So much information is at the tip of our fingers, 24 hours a day, no matter what continent we are on! I have made some great friends over the internet, Hannah's Prayer, and blogger friends, kept in touch with high school and college friends at the touch of the button, and have learned a lot of stuff about a lot of things. However, never have I gotten off the internet and said to myself, "I feel so very Me," like I have felt all day today.

I try to be genuine. I post about sadness and anger sometimes because I feel those things just like everyone does. The kind of person who pretends that things are peachy all the time is the kind of person I can't easily relate to. This is one of the reasons why I love Thelma, Christine, Mac, and Allison (blogging friends who tell it like it is. Shout outs to ya'll!)

If you ever want to catch me 100% Amy, find me at the pool or the piano. You'll get to know me as fast as lightening (or a sprinter - something I never have been!).