18 Years Ago: May 6th--The sports edition

"Pregnancy Day By Day" notation

May 6, 1997: "154 lbs, 40 laps; wrote birth plan; excited about birth!" This journal notation encapsulates my pregnancy. An important aspect was swimming. The earliest notation of swimming in my journal was on 11/16/1996: 130 lbs, 22 laps (week 16). I started the pregnancy about 128 pounds (58 kilos). I had significant vomiting (so-called "morning sickness") and hadn't gained much in the first four months. For the remaining weeks and months, there's a steady weight gain alongside fairly frequent notations of swimming. I remember weighing myself in the locker room of the NCRB (North Campus Recreation Building) in my swimsuit. Keeping track. I loved the feeling of the water--it carried the weight of my belly, and I felt free. After a swim, I loved the oxygenated tingle in every pore of my skin. Swimming was my elixir.

The second part reads: "wrote birth plan; excited about birth!" Yes, indeed, excited! The date is May 6th. The baby's due date is May 9th. And we wrote the birth plan with just three days to go? Really? Some strange combination of procrastination and reverse psyching out seems to have been in play. My anxiety (which I find no written record of) must have expressed itself in this vagueness and deflection. Was this really going to happen? Any day now? Better write that birth plan finally! Whew. I haven't located the actual birth plan, but I have found two magazine holders filled with notes and papers collected while pregnant. The collection has stayed with me (through two major moves). It's my memoirist's impulse: documents to revive the past. Treasures to explore.

Candles imported from
Oberlin's Bead Paradise

May 6, 2015: I had another day (the last of four) listening to student presentations. I'll admit the pang I felt when a youthful student with curly hair introduced himself, saying "I'm 18 years old." I'd say I feel proud of my students, but they did all the work, so I can simply admire them. Most of them made noticeable use of the guidelines I gave them, and that gives me a sense of positive impact. But the long day wears me out. At home I walked up the hill with Miriam to the strawberry fields for berries and cherry tomatoes. The fields aren't bearing fruit yet, but the owners have an early crop from greenhouses. As for sports, I watched Bayern München struggle around the field in Barcelona until the dam finally broke in the final 15 minutes, giving Barcelona a 3-0 win. It would have been much worse if Manuel Neuer hadn't powerfully defended the Bayern goal most of the game. But seriously, as for sports, I'm suddenly inspired to find time for a swim.