I'm a pack rat. And as such, it takes me forever to clean up the junk in my bedroom. I always manage to come across a pile of papers I haven't seen in ten years and just HAVE to look through them, taking a nice stroll down memory lane while I do. What should take two minutes can take up to two hours. Yesterday I was looking for something (which I never found - grrrr) and came across a box full of old high school papers, interesting stuff I'd forgotten I'd hoarded.

I found some old poems I'd written in the 11th grade for some big English project. They reminded me of my 11th grade English teacher and of the day she told the class she'd been on a spiritual journey and talked to trees. And, of course, the trees talked back to her. They were very friendly and giving, those trees.

I also found a bunch of stapled papers full of Coach Hev's water polo diagrams. They reminded me of the day he handed those out. The pool was closed (can't remember why) and we all thought, for some stupid reason, that we were going to get out of practice. Every other sport got out of practice when it rained, but not water polo. Nooooooo. So there we were, excited that we were finally going to get a day off, and Hev makes up hole up in a classroom to go over plays and fancy maneuvers and stuff. In the end, it turned out to be a fun practice.

I found a bunch of other crap too, but I'll stop listing them now, sparing anyone who's gotten this far in reading this drivel, determined not to stop until they finish. (Bonus brownie points for all you troopers). I will end this post on another treasure I found. I copied it off of a t-shirt I found at a high school league swim meet. At the time, at the end of a long swimming career, the list rang very true to home. Finding it again brought back a flood of memories... and the strong smell of chlorine. :)

Top 10 Reason Why I Swim
10. It gives me something to do at 5 a.m.
9. I look great with green hair.
8. I thrive on competition.
7. I love the cheer of the crowd
6. Chlorine is cheaper than cologne.
5. It gives my family something to do on the weekends.
4. I enjoy banging my head on the walls.
3. I love swimming in circles.
2. It saves me the trouble of showering every day.
1. It's great to be part of a team.
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