I’ve never heard of a person that has never failed at something; and if there has been, please feel free to call me wrong. Until then, I’m going to continue thinking that no one is perfect. When I think about the word “trying” or “new” I think of a saying my dad used to say, “Where there is a ditch, there is a hill.” I never really understood what he meant because I thought about it too literal. I guess that’s how everyone tries to look at sayings when they don’t understand it. I didn’t think about too much after he told me because I didn’t want to overwhelm myself. Now, I regret not thinking about it because maybe if I did, I wouldn’t have given up on so many opportunities.

Growing up, I was taught many lessons from my family. My family always told me that these lessons were important and valuable; that they would help me later in life. What they didn’t know was that just because they taught me them, didn’t mean I understood it. Half the things they tried teaching me didn’t really stick. In my opinion, that’s what happens when you don’t try to understand. I went through many challenges in my life and I got over them easily, but one challenge will stick with me for a long time.

I was 12 years old when my parents finally decided to put me in swimming classes. I went to countless birthday parties where I sat at the edge of the pool with my feet swinging in the water, while the other kids swam around. So you can imagine how excited I was when they told me the news. 1st day of classes and I was gleaming with pure excitement and happiness. I got to the pool ready to get this started, until I saw my teacher. Looking back she wasn’t scary whatsoever, but to my 12 years old self, she was terrifying. Part of my brain knew she was just a lady, but the other part thought she was the wicked witch of the west. I shook those thoughts out of my brain and got into the water.

I was halfway through the class and I already knew I wanted to quit and never come back. During my break, I sat at the bench with my dad and drank enough water to fill another pool. I had a pout on my face, a scratch on my arm and boogers running down my face; worst combination ever. My dad must have realized that I was having a bad session because he asked me why I was so mad. I just told him that I wasn’t having fun and I wanted to go home already. I guess that wasn’t what he wanted to hear because he looked at me with a hard glare. He told me that I thought learning how to swim was going to be easy and that I was surprised to find it was not. In my head I knew he was right, so when my break was over, I knew I had to continue. I got back in the water ready to end this practice in a good note; and that’s exactly what I did.

Karla Ru