Aug 4: A Weekend Welcome

Lately I've been welcoming the weekend in a very South Florida kind of way. With a swim. I could easily go to the ocean to do this, of course. I live only a mile from one of Broward's Blue Wave beaches. But instead I've been going to my condo pool for a delightful Friday night dip. The pool is more convenient obviously, just a short walk from my front door. Plus I don't have to deal with sand on my feet, and in my car, at the end of a tiring week. But whether in the sea or in a pool, the idea would work pretty much the same way. So yep, I'm here to recommend that you try this wet welcome to the weekend. You can decide for yourself if the Atlantic Ocean sounds best or if you prefer a pool at your condo or hotel somewhere in Greater Fort Lauderdale.

Here's how my new Friday night routine works. Just as the sun is going down, usually around 7:30-8pm, I throw on my bathing suit, grab a towel and step into my flip-flops. Within three minutes I'm poolside, wetting down in an outdoor shower before stepping in for my swim.

Each Friday when I've gone to the pool, it's been empty. It is a sizeable pool too, good for swimming laps or diving down to the bottom. The solitude feels like a luxury to me, having a grand Florida pool all to myself. As the sun drops lower I start my swim by peeling off several laps. Not lots and lots of laps, mind you. Hey I'm not trying to challenge Michael Phelps here. Just to get a bit of exercise and then to ... relax. That's the point of all this, really. To let go of some of that tension I carry around with me too often, tension from worrying about things I can't control as well as tension from trying to control as many things as I can. As I grow older, I'm getting better about not whipping myself into a frenzy so frequently. But I'm not there yet. So my Friday night swims are therapeutic, washing away some of those worries with each lap. And when I'm more or less done with the laps, I sit and soak in the shallow water and watch the sunglow as the horizon seems to swallow the radiant yellow light. Sometimes I float on my back and look up at the clouds and the palm trees. And sometimes I just stand and look around, still amazed that I live in such a place. To many vacationers, South Florida seems a paradise of sorts. During my Friday evening swims, it certainly feels that way to me.  (Photo: The Atlantic Hotel, Fort Lauderdale beach)