Entitled "Don't Go Near The Water!"
I can express myself just as I see it in the standard 11 1/2" by 16" format when meeting the bi-monthly challenges of
The Arts Quilts Around the World group. Our last challenge theme - "The Road Less Travelled" - was an easy one for me. You see,
my road less travelled is to the clear blue ocean water, waves lapping on the beach with the blue sky overhead. I took a simple approach down the path - right to the nitty gritty as to why I don't travel this road, literally and figuratively!
I'm afraid of water....oh, no, not bath water, just deep water, as in a lake or river or the ocean.
I learned to be afraid of water at a very young age. You see, my mother was also afraid of water and so every time we kids went near any body of water, we could hear her say, "don't go near the water: you'll drown." I took that statement seriously.
Look closely - there's a definite line between the water and the sand. And, yes, that slash of red is symbolic as is the tornado-like stitches starting at the top of the heavenly blue sky and ending in the depths of my water's hell.
There's more to the story, so I'll continue to tell until I get this out of my system once and for all ~
I was perhaps 30 years old when I decided I could not and would not allow my mother's words to continue to plague me. I signed up for swim lessons. Admittedly, progress was slow. But surely, I learned to swim!
But wait....there's more to the story.
On graduation day, I was told to jump into the pool and swim back to the edge. The obedient part of me jumped in
and
panic
set
in
The instructor had to jump in and drag my wet, soggy, sorry, scaredy-cat, panic-stricken body back to the pool's edge. It was not a pretty sight and I never did get my swimming lesson diploma.
I haven't travelled that path again!
Mom was right all along.
