Swimmer's Testimony: One Year of Swimming!

Sonic here with a question: What's your swimming story? Here's mine... My story begins in late March of 2004, when there was a void in my life. Something was missing, but what? It had been ten years since I last swam and about four years when I last saw a pool. My life was to a point where I couldn't carry on anymore. I decided to take a long hiatus from College as I felt I was only chasing my own tail and felt like I wasn't going anywhere. In the mid to late 90s, I had to quit swimming because of special eye surgeries to control my advanced Glaucoma, which has been stabilized ever since. Of course, this depressed me, since I thought I would never see a pool or be in the water ever again. :( By early April 2004, I asked myself an important question: "When was the last time you really went swimming?" After asking myself this, I realized what was missing in my life and started making research on local pools on my own. When I announced to my family that I wanted to start swimming again, my mother was concerned that I would run the risk of an eye infection (since I have open inscisions on both my eyes, right under my eyelids.) I assured her that with the right pair of goggles, the risk of an eye infection is minimal. Three weeks later, I bought two pairs of Speedo's and the rest of my equipment. Monday, April 26, 2004 will have a very special place in my heart and memory, for on that very day, after a ten year hiatus, I took the plunge and started swimming again. I was reintroduced to the beauty and joy that is Swimming and wanted more. I didn't want to stop there and I wanted to fulfill my dream of competition. I knew it was going to be a long and winding road before I started competing. By mid May 2004, I knew if I wanted to compete, that I had to join a team. I had never heard of Masters Swimming before, but knew that somewhere out there, there was a team for adults just like me. After making several Yahoo! searches, I discovered usms.org and learned about Masters Swimming and the hope that there might be a team in my area. After making my search in this very site, I was overjoyed when I discovered that there was an LMSC in my area. After placing some calls with questions about joining, I got the ball rolling into a new direction. On Sunday, June 20, 2004, I Joined USMS and on Wednesday, July 7, 2004, I received my USMS # and membership card. And know what? Life's never been the same. Tomorrow, April 26, 2005 will mark one year that I started swimming. As a way of celebrating, I plan on attending my first swim meet this Saturday! What better way to say happy first anniversary than with a swim meet? Swimming saved my life and I don't plan to stop anytime soon.