After a long, long break, I went to the pool again this morning. It felt really good. I am not a good swimmer; I learned how to swim only about 5 or 6 years ago (arigato gozaimasu, Hiroshi-san!). I am ridiculously slow. But I have improved my technique little by little with practice (lots of it), and I have come to the point that I actually enjoy it. The first few months of last year, I was in the pool 2 to 3 times a week. Then something happened (not sure what, maybe nothing in particular, just different things going on) and I stopped. Earlier this year, I said I would start going again, but time went by, and nothing. Last week I ordered new gear online (swimming shorts, cap, googles, even new sandals), because my old stuff was, really, very old, and I promised to myself I would go as soon as I got the new stuff. I got it on Wednesday. I didn’t go on Thursday, but I was there this morning. And it was very good. So, my next goal is to go to the pool twice next week. And we’ll take it from there.