When you’re a little kid, one of the best things you might do during the summer (or heck, any time) is go to pool parties. How do I know this? Because I went to quite a lot of them as a kid and always had a blast. Lots of memories always come to mind, but there’s one I always think of for some reason.
The day I pretended I was a swimming instructor. Ya know, because… I was a kid; and when you’re a kid, pretending is normal.
Anyway, let’s jump right in!
It all started when I was at a pool party and felt like goofing around. I was seven or eight at the time, so my imagination was always exploding with ideas. And in this instance, I was hanging around with a girl I liked from school. I started thinking of silly things to do to make her laugh, and she would play along. After a while, I had the idea to think of random little ways one could swim.
Minutes later, the swimming instructor in me was unleashed.
Different swimming moves were attempted. Including the doggy paddle attempt, a torpedo-style move that involved pushing off one of the sides and spinning forward, and even backwards swimming. I pretended like I was an expert, and yet I was about as professional and capable as someone who can’t make it into a school swimming team.
Consider that an, “Ouch, self-burn!” sorta’ comment, because there’s no doubt in my mind that I never would’ve made it onto my school’s swimming team.
Knowing this, I started acting like a somewhat clumsy swimming teacher just to make my friend laugh, and she went along coming up with her own little ideas. One thing we attempted was one-arm swimming, where we pretended that we couldn’t use one arm and only had to use the other to swim. Since I have never been able to do a one-arm push-up, I can describe my attempt at swimming with one arm as being… kinda’ sucky. Oh well. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
After that went on for a while, we ate burgers & hot dogs that my friend’s dad grilled for everyone. We sat around and played some games, and then returned to more swimming before eventually going back home.
There’s a good handful of pool parties I’ve been to, but this one comes to mind the most. Plenty of kids from school were there, and I got to eat good food, but the fact that I joked around and did a little role-playing is why this memory stands out. It was fun making my friend laugh and she was really nice. I eventually lost touch with her around middle school, but I still think about this moment whenever I think about swimming.
When you’re a kid, one of the best things you can do is be a little silly. It’s practically a requirement. Then, when you grow up, you might think back to things like this and realize, “I wish I could be spontaneous like I used to be.” Many fun times can be experienced for sure, and whether you’re young or old, you should find ways to channel your younger self when you’re with friends. Then, the good times can truly begin.
Another funny thing… this wasn’t the first time I pretended to be an instructor or teacher of some kind, but I’ll share those for another day. So until then, always have fun and never stop using your imagination.
See ya next time!
Kasey Lewis - Actor, Writer, Creator 