A Dancer
My poor mom, she wanted to raise a "young lady" and felt I should be exposed to tap dancing and ballet. She enrolled me in lessons. I griped when I had to practice; Mary Jo was outside playing. Why did I have to learn this dumb stuff? The only thing I did like about the dance lessons was the neat costumes for the recitals. Mom would slave over the old treadle sewing machine making my costumes.
A Swimming Star
I will bless my mother all of the days of my life for her decision to give up on the dance and ballet lessons. She enrolled me in swimming lessons at the YWCA and my love affair with swimming began.
The Y was located in downtown Lincoln and is still there as of this writing. Back in the 1940's, they had a cafeteria. Mom and I would ride the bus downtown, she would wait for me while I had my swim lesson and then we would eat in the cafeteria.
At the end of one of the swimming sessions, they held a synchronized swimming show. Since I had progressed to a competent swimmer in my age group, I was selected to ride in the center on the star.
My goal was to someday swim the English Channel.
