SOUL Center, I had no idea what limitless joy I would find. I guess I thought that by the time I reached middle age, I would’ve already tried most things and known what my outdoor passions were. I knew I liked mountain biking, running, hiking, snowboarding and casually jumping in any body of water to cool off, but open-water swimming? Hmmm. How wrong I was, when at 40-something, I found a new true love. Looking back, I don’t remember ever not knowing how to swim. The family story my parents love to tell is that my mom
Finding wellness in the water. by ASHLEA WALTER photo by ANDY WAKEMAN
threw me in a pool in Portugal after my older brother was thrown in, right before she remembered that I couldn’t swim. I was 3. I was precocious, but still, 3. Sink or swim, the adage goes. Swim I did, as I came to the surface and never looked back. When I was a kid, I was the first one in a pool and the last one out, sporting shriveled fingers and toes, maybe even a pair of blue lips over Memorial Day weekend in a friend’s just-filled pool. I was on a few swim teams through early high school, but racing was never really my thing; I just loved to be in the water. mynorth.com
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