Breathe

My parents signed me up for swimming lessons when I was five, and I learned to turn onto my back and float. I’ve always been good at it. Now, years later, I spend summers on a large, beautiful lake. During my daily swims, my favorite thing to do is float. Buoyant and almost weightless, surrounded by the cool, crystal water with my ears submerged, noises are muffled. Things become distant. Thoughts recede. The bubbling sound of water and my breath is all I hear, and I disappear from reality for a while.