I've lived in Ithaca for for 11 years and every year I see the "Women Swimmin" signs on people's lawns. My first year living here I had to google it..."Women Swimmin" ....women who swim ACROSS the lake to raise money for Hospicare.  WHAT?!?  I couldn't believe it.  These women swim ACROSS THE LAKE.  The thought of that scared me...so those of you who know me well know that means I must do it one day. Hehe

That one day has arrived!! 

I typically don't swim in nature because I don't want to swim with the fish, can't stand the feel of seaweed touching me, and anything else that might be swimming around me.  Plus I can't SEE what is around me so then I don't even KNOW if there is something around me until it touches me.  And then what?  I scream and then start drowning.  Not good.  I've learned to just stay out of natural bodies of water...but I've got to get over my fear if I want to do Women Swimmin'.

But I haven't done freestyle in over 30 years!

The other fun aspect to doing this is that yes, I know how to swim, but can I really swim across a lake?!?  There's kind of no turning back once in the middle of the lake, right?  (There will be rescue kayaks but I'm not planning on using them.)  So I've started training...40 days total to train...the ability to do Women Swimmin' just came up so I took the opportunity.  The swim across the lake is 1.2 miles if I go straight so I've started doing laps in the pool.  The autism journey with my daughter has given me such a great foundation of how to overcome challenges.

Life is different now

I've lived in crisis mode for many years, working hard to figure things out. Life is good now, so I'm honored to have the time and ability to raise money for a great organization such as Hospicare. Please donate to my page— all the money goes directly to Hospicare.