The Guard Chair to an Adirondack

My eyes were dry as I tested pH levels one last time, color-coordinated the kickboards for good measure and biked away from my poolside summer jobs. As much as I miss those sticky days of saltwatered hair and the SPF 50 film on my sunglasses and pillow, I am not alone when I say that the school year is what St. Lawrence students look forward to most, not our summer breaks.

Coaching the Olympics (and taking my turn holding the Olympic Torch) at the yacht club

I was lucky to love all my jobs this summer. Lifeguarding was memorable for the amazing kids I met at Cardinal Cushing, a school for children of all ages and abilities.  Teaching swim lessons at a yacht club gave me a tolerance for soaking cannonballs at 8 a.m. and an appreciation for the more exciting points in swimming—like kicking. And finding dollar bills at the bottom of the pool. Coaching swim team for the third summer tested my skill in giving directions, teasing my 11 and 12-year-olds right back and putting together a winning 100 medley relay team at Championships.

A different body of water greeted me each day between my jobs, a morning masters swim team, and the occasional ocean swim with an eclectic group called the Crusty Barnacles.  On weekends I took my love of competition to two sprint triathlons, a half-ironman-distance “Aquaman,” a half marathon and a chilly Swim Across America event—maybe my favorite, for its near-my-heart focus on cancer research and survivor support.

Swim Across America with the Crusty Barnacles

I likely would have become a crusty barnacle had I been in the water any more this summer.  If you've read my other posts, you know this suits me just fine. 

But what I love even more than flipping my fins away from sharks is jumping and dancing across the SLU campus.  Especially now, as the edges of maple leaves let autumn’s yellow slowly blend with summer’s green. Up here in Canton I’m part of the world (thank you, little mermaid) I’m so glad I chose to join four years ago; a world that blooms with the chrysanthemums as we resume the learning and working and playing a summer job can augment, but not replace. 

Up here we do walk, and we watch our friends run. We stay all day in the sun doing scavenger hunts [for Admissions Ambassador orientation], eating at Adirondack theme dinners and playing Frisbee with the swim team. But unlike this summer, when my chair was a study white number with three steps and a red umbrella, here I recline in an Adirondack chair: the best spot to take in all St. Lawrence brings to fall.

Until the essays pile up, and I head inside for fall semester to begin.

The swim start for the Kingdom Triathlon's "Aquaman"