It’s Been a Minute

That phrase confuses me but I know what it means. It means I have not posted to my blog in ages. I became a lifeguard this summer and it consumed me. The city of Austin offered $20/hour so they could fully staff all the city pools this summer. After hemming and hawing, I took my over 50 self to the Aquatics office and signed up to get certified. This was probably one of the most fun jobs I have ever had. It is more than sitting on the stand twirling a whistle (which we weren’t allowed to do). It is watching people who may or may not be able to swim, may or may not be in good health, may or may not be on drugs and try to figure out how you would prevent them from harming themselves. Lifeguarding is mostly about prevention. I also think about how I would save the child whose parent is ignoring them, or the teenage who doesn’t swim as well as his friends or the older person swimming laps in bathtub temp water when it is 105 degrees outside. I like guarding so much that I also got Red Cross certified to guard at the YMCA. It pays less but you get a free membership (not like I have time to use it though).

In the middle of all of this my knee was aching. Some days it hurt so bad that I could not walk to the pasture to feed horses and I had to ride the mower out. Turns out I have arthritis. Boooooo. Cortisone shots didn’t help. I finally was approved to get the gel shots in one knee. Through all of this I was working. Ignoring the pain as I climbed the lifeguard stand. I could swim just fine. I could get through in water rescue training fine but running to a rescue would be excruciating. The shots along with over the counter meds have made it possible to walk comfortably without a rolling limp. I feel normal again.

I also decided during the summer to put my house on the market. Most of the summer was spent getting it ready to put on the market, truth be told. Decluttering, cleaning, staging and such. it is under contract now though and I am planning on moving to be closer to family in northern Georgia. I’ve had to rehome a horse, my beloved donkey and send my mini back to the rescue that I got her from. I am taking two of my horses and will board them at a farm near to where I am buying a small home on much less land. It’s time to get back into the photo world be it freelancing, photo editing or teaching people what i have learned in my many years of journalism.

I realize this in a post that is the overview of what I did this summer. I plan to publish some of my lifeguarding insights as I step away from the stand in a few weeks. Being an older lifeguard gave me a unique perspective. Many of the younger guards recognized that and I became their non judgmental older person to bounce ideas off of. I’m grateful for their trust.