Waiting to swim.  How long should you wait until you can go swimming?  Well, if you have eaten, they say you wait an hour.  Of course, this has been disproven.  Just read the Snopes article,  Hour Missed Brooks.  Yet the belief hangs on.  I actually thought it was true when I was a kid.  My mother said so.  So we didn't go swimming for at least an hour after a picnic lunch or at the high school pool.  Why, we didn't even dare take a bath until at least an hour after dinner!

So I heard this said again recently and knowing it really is a old wives' tale, I began to wonder, (not about who those old wives were, that is another wonderment I am sure to pursue some time), but about how much time we spend waiting to swim when we don't have to.  I am thinking of swimming as a metaphor for living in this instance.  Swimming, as is living, is a risky business at times.  It pays to have mastered some skills before you dive in.  Drowning, haven't nearly done it three times, would not be much fun.  And so is living.

It is interesting to me that when we try a new activity that may involve some risk, either to our personal safety, or to our reputation amongst our peers, we are encouraged to "just dive in."   See how nicely the swimming metaphor works?  "Just dive in and your innate knowledge will keep you afloat."  Survival I suppose is a great motivator.  It is just stepped off that diving board that scares the bejeebers out of us.  At least it does for me.

So I wait.  I think about it.  I study it.  I ask my friends.  I talk to experts.  I pray to God for courage and preservation.  And I wait some more.  Finally, I take a baby step.  I work up my courage, take a deep breath, and ...... and I come to my senses.  I am not a good swimmer.  Then that little voice that always speaks up at these particular time says, "You never will be if you don't dive in!  To swim you gotta get wet!"  Oh brother.  As if I didn't know that!

So sometimes I dive in and sometimes I sit back and wait.  I want to be sure I guess I have a back-up plan.  I want to be sure I will be rescue.  Then the Cowardly Lion from the Wizard of Oz gruffly chides, "Be a lion, not a mouse."   I say shut up.  Then I finally come to my senses.  Maybe I did eat lunch, but that old wives' tale is just a superstition.  So I decide to swim and, lo and behold, I do not sink. 

So how much time to you wait to swim?  When do you think it is safe to dive in?  What are you missing by not getting wet, by not experiencing the freedom of "swimming".  Waiting is just no use.  If you don't live now, when will you?  And by the same token, when will I?  No more excuses.  Let's dive in!