Submitted by Robin to the Women Mind the Water digital stories project, in conjunction with the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street storytelling website and traveling exhibition "Water/Ways."
Robin: Growing up, I was always really attracted to the water. But, one of my first memories about being in the water was when my dad took me to a public pool once. I think he probably stopped paying attention for just a second but I slipped and kind of fell underneath the water and I have this memory of him, of seeing his legs down in the water. ‘Cause my whole head was underwater. I was pretty scared. And, I remember leaving the pool with my dad and thinking: 'I hope this doesn’t make me scared of water in the future.' I think it did because I still don’t really know how to swim anymore and I’m not very confident in the water. And, I didn’t want that to happen to my son. So we’ve been doing a lot of swimming. You know, stuff in the water a lot. I think he’s pretty comfortable.
Child: I really like swimming in the pond in my backyard with the kids named Tessa and Andy. Andy is seven, Tessa is six, and Mia is ten. So we went swimming a bunch of times. And, the first time I went swimming I thought it was really, really cold. But I keep doing it and then it felt really, really warm.
Robin: Do you like swimming? [Robin laughs] Okay. Good! I’m glad.
Asset ID: 7907
