A Buoyant Bum?

Language is constantly changing, rearranging.  The English language in my lifetime has exploded.  Or maybe it's the American language that has grown so very, very fast.  Whether English or American I think you'll agree that it has gotten really, really BIG!

Bum...in my childhood referred to both a homeless person AND to your gluteus muscles both maximus and minimus.  In this post I'm going to use the later definition of bum.

As a small child my Father determined that I WOULD  learn to swim.  There were two impediments.  #1.  I was and am allergic to chlorine.  #2.  My bum.  I think I just heard someone say, "Your WHAT?"  Please refer to paragraph two above.

My parents were the type of people who believed that little things like allergies were not permanent blockades.  They believed that there was some way, some possible way to control my symptoms so that I could live a relatively normal life.  Thank Heavens for parents like that. 

So back to my bum.  My first swimming lessons were scheduled before I reached the double digit age of 10.  That one did not work because I developed pneumonia, possibly from swimming in chlorine...hmmm.  The 2nd set of lessons (we're not going to let a little thing like pneumonia stop us, right?) went much better.  Medical science had developed better antihistamines.  I did very well indeed until....until I discovered that I could not physically dive head first into the pool. 

Oh I COULD put my head into the water first.  That was the easy part.  The hard part was getting the rest of me to follow.  The minute that my bum reached the point in the water where it was supposed to follow my head, neck, and torso under the water, my buoyant bottom floated gleefully to the top of the water and the rest of me followed. 

I repeated this experience, over, and over, and over, until my 20's when I determined that for whatever reason I was not going to be able to dive in my lifetime.  On a positive note (my parents were all for focusing on the positive), I probably would not drown...my bottom was more successful than a life preserver at keeping me atop the water.  On the downside, (tiny little pun intended) if I was in the water face down, my bum would keep me buoyant, but my face would be down in the water!  EPIC FAIL.

Of course any one that reads my blog knows that I am extremely fond of drawing analogies.  Here is the analogy.  Life has a very nasty way of pushing us down, down, down, and down, possibly a thousand times or more (depending on if you live to be 95 like my Mommy or 54 like my husband).  What happens when you are pushed down under that water?  Do you just stay there?  That would be a negative choice, unless dolphins have learned how to read and are now reading my blog.  Dolphins would be OK under water....there may be another analogy in that thought, but I think we'll skip it.

My buoyant bum is a wonderful gift to me, because it never allows me to STAY down.  It makes me pop up from the water like I have a life preserver attached.  That is as it should be.  We need to keep a spirit of buoyancy in life.  Nobody can survive for long in this life without knowing how to bounce back up from the tragedies, and sometimes just the plain old everydayness of life.

If you are NOT blessed with a buoyant bum...(so sorry for you...no just kidding) put buoyancy in your heart, or in your head, and just keep popping up from the watery trials of life, over, and over, and over again. 

If you feel that life is hopeless and it will never get better...you are wrong.  After all...the antihistamines now are amazing!