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Dr. P-J's Blog

Swimming Through My Life - Seward Park

10/24/2022

4 Comments

 
Picture
Near the end of my time in Seattle (my father took a master’s degree from University of Washington when I was nine and he got a job teaching in Wenatchee) we went on an outing with my Grandma Chandler, my mother’s mother.

I’ve looked at maps trying to figure out where the beach was – my guess is Seward Park. Between my mother and my grandma, there was sure to have been a fabulous lunch, perhaps fried chicken and potato salad. Maybe watermelon and cookies or cake. Or donuts. Grandma did like to buy us donuts. (“Say Pat, do you think we should stop and get some D-O-N-U-T-S?” And I would yell “YES!”)

So I found a picture of Seward Park taken in the 50s and it seems quite possible. The main thing about my life-long swimming adventure is that on this occasion, the water was NOT freezing cold. It was warm and lovely, due to the shallow nature of the geography of the shoreline. You had to walk out a long ways to get to waist deep. Jayne and I stayed near the shore and pretended to swim while actually just walking around on our hands. This led to my actually dog paddling around and figuring out that I could dog paddle quite a long distance.

This is a red-letter day in my life story because that was the day I learned to swim. I was still not confident in the water and would never swim where I could not stand up and be head above water. It was so validating to have accomplished something I had worked so hard on for so many miserable days in that cold cold water of Union Bay. I learned today it’s really called Lake Union, but whatever. That’s how I remember it.

And I can still remember how unpleasant it was to try to swim in that cold water. I tried so hard and I hated it so much. Then one day, I swam in shallow warm water and boom – I could do it. I could swim.

It makes me feel good to think about that, even today at age 71. And it does my heart good to remember Grandma Chandler. She was a sweet and gentle soul, the kind of Christian anyone could aspire to be, and merry too with a humorous wit and a kind and diplomatic nature. I feel her warmth as I feel the warmth of some beach in Seattle when I was nine years old.

​Dr. P-J
​10/24/22

Link to Non-Fiction -- Memoirs -- Swimming Through My Life
4 Comments
Noel Pineo
10/24/2022 09:45:15 am

Smith could write a great story about visiting Grandma Chandler's apartment in Orange to steal her valuim pills , back in the 70's . She use to tell me all about our Grandfather and the family homestead on the Troublesome River ; while Mip was rummaging through her medicine cabinet . Good times !

Reply
Dr. P-J link
10/25/2022 08:29:04 am

Grandma loved to talk about camping on the Troublesome, which was a fierce river, as I recall her telling. She instilled a love in camping in our mother.

Mom and Dad took us on camping trips at least once a year and sometimes much more. What lucky children to enjoy the simple life of camping in the Pacific Northwest. Some of the best memories of my life involve camping.

You, Noel, have taking camping to an art form. "I'll dig you a really good trench" is a bridge to far for me, but I respect your dedication to camping in a place far from the sound of the road, as Mike once sang.

I am smiling.
Your sister,
Dr. P-J

Reply
Michael Jensen
10/25/2022 10:39:08 am

That's " Far From the Side of the Road"

Reply
Dr. P-J link
10/25/2022 03:21:47 pm

I sometimes remember that the lyric to your grandfather's song is
"far from the side of the road" but I seem to prefer
"far from the sound of the road"

I have been mis-hearing song lyrics all my life . . .

"Hail, hail, the gang's all here" I heard as "hell, hell, the gang's all here" and I wouldn't sing the "hell"part because I thought it was cussing

"After Midnight" I heard as "Captain Midnight"

"The One After 909" I heard as "The One Astro 909"

and most disturbingly,
"God is a concept by which we measure our pain" I hears as
"God is a concert, by which we measure our pain" which makes literally NO sense




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Shelley Pineo-Jensen, Ph.D.