Early family photos show me splashing happily with my cousin Lynn in a galvanized tin wash tub in the backyard. Other childhood memories include swimming off the rocks behind the Anglican Church in Lac La Ronge and swimming alongside the beer bottles hanging off twine from the pier at the Narrows of Waskesiu Lake.

No doubt those freezing Northern Saskatchewan lakes are mighty fine beverage coolers.

In fifth grade, the City of Edmonton began offering swim lessons through the schools but outside of school time. I was instantly excited, and my parents were supportive, as long as it didn’t involve any effort on their part.

You can probably conclude that my mom and dad were DIY parents, and to them the idea of Helicopter Parenting would have been beyond stupid. Their approach also applied to transportation — it was shoe leather, bicycle or Edmonton Transit.

So began a long-committed independent trek through all of the Red Cross badges of the time — all the way to Water Safety Instructor. Concurrently, I pursued all the pertinent lifesaving awards culminating in National Lifeguard Service Certification. By the time I was 16, I had year-round part-time work as a swimming Instructor for the City of Edmonton at $1.25/hr. to start.

Swimming has led me to an unbelievable number of places — from local summer church-sponsored camps to basically the rest of the world. Swimming put me through university. Each summer, I would manage an outdoor pool in rural Alberta. Dating more than a few local boys, we would crash numerous Saturday wedding dances in the coulee community halls.

That is, when we weren’t searching for missing cases of beer in the surrounding ditches. Certain feedlot parties are still considered legendary!

Just as I was finishing university, an opportunity came to me from the Canadian Red Cross. I was able to go to Jamaica for four months to teach local kids to swim in various communities across the country. I know this all sounds very much like coals to Newcastle, but the truth was that Jamaica might be an island nation, but there had never been a tradition of learning to swim.

So many firsts that summer! My first flight on an airplane. Learning to handle a right-hand drive vehicle with a standard shift. Also learning that your car horn is a safety feature in Jamaica — don’t leave home without checking that it works! Eating curried goat and plantain and strange Neapolitan ice cream with cherry rather than strawberry flavouring. Small girls trying to figure out why my hair wouldn’t plait (still doesn’t). Climbing Ochos Rios Falls. No sunrises, no sunsets. Somehow, God just flips the switch twice a day.

Many years later when I went to work in Switzerland, I requested the staff housing person to locate me a flat near a swimming pool.

Boy, did she deliver. It was a 500-metre hike from our flat to the beautiful Badi Juch complex.

Soon, I had a season pass to this amazing indoor/outdoor pool system with dual stainless steel outdoor pools, an indoor pool and gorgeous landscaping, featuring picnic and BBQ sites.

Getting accustomed to the human protocols was trickier. Europeans have a much more relaxed view of nudity than we do, and change areas are often M/F shared. I never quite lost my Canuck “shy.”

There were many Swiss Sunday spa days where we would explore the public spas and swimming pools along the Rhine River. A particular favourite was Uberlingen Therme on Lake Constance which literally has something for everyone.

At admittance, you are given a magic bracelet with an embedded computer chip. This bracelet is literally your key to the kingdom allowing you to access everything available. It allowed you to open your change “cabine” and locker, to pay for your lunch, and buy a massage or sauna or just enter the serenity pools.

You could swipe your bracelet on a wall sensor to find out how much money you had spent. I will never forget blowing my hair at a drying station, glancing down through the picture windows to discover I was enjoying the sunbathers on the “natural” beach — clothing was NOT an option!

We would also pay to use the enclosed beaches on the Zurichsee. This was a really odd sensation for a Canadian, but I suppose it was better than being someone who was waiting for boat moorage. At the time, the wait was 10 years. Another interesting and phenomenal water experience was floating vertically in the beautiful Adriatic Sea off the island of Vis.

Yet, my latest swimming adventure may just be the strangest. In midSeptember 2020, BC public health allowed pools to re-open under strict work-safe rules.

I can only describe the experience as akin to visiting an alternate universe, from online booking to actually leaving the facility.

First, you have to be quick on the draw to reserve a lane — each time slot opens exactly 72 hours beforehand.

Within minutes, everything available is gone. Arriving at the pool, you are permitted in precisely 10 minutes pre-swim. Everyone must remain socially distant, and the twometre requirement must be observed both in and out of the water.

A mask must be worn to pool edge. Swimmers may only leave the pool when designated and follow a Zombie one-way route out, again in masks.

Ten minutes to shower, dress and vacate the premises. Once around the building to the parking lot. Then, you breathe out! Whew!

What next? Since the pools reopened, I am some 74 swims in, according to my electronic punch card. It looks like for the foreseeable future my three black polyester chlorine proof bathing suits will continue to be known as Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. The pool will continue to be my lifeline away from the current stay-at-home, no gathering public health orders. For all of this, I am grateful.

But I’ll just continue to daydream about other times, other places and other experiences. After all, for me it’s truly been a lifetime!

-Anne Letain