SWIMMING FOR THE WILD

Whatever the issue of the hour, water is the solution. I like to think that water is my secret superpower when it comes to parenting, including parenting myself. Instant mood changer: drink a glass of water, take a bath, run through the sprinkler, jump in the lake, get in some laps. As powerfully renewing as it is, we never regret being immersed in water, do we? Maybe it’s because the human body is said to be made up of 60 percent water that I always feel at home in it. But it’s also more than that; more than returning to the womb. Whenever I jump into a pool or “Mama Lake,” as we affectionately refer to Lake Michigan, I feel like I’m 8 years old again: immediate smile, freedom, a release from gravity and worries that only seem to live on the land.

When some friends invited me to start open-water swimming with them several years ago as we trained for Swim for Grand Traverse Bay, an event that benefits The Watershed