Friends...

"Friendship is the only cure for hatred, the only guarantee of peace." ~ Buddha

The past two weekends have been all about friendship - making new friends, reconnecting with old friends, and building on existing friendships. I can't help but be grateful for all the friends I have - hopefully they realize how much they mean to me!

Last weekend I spent joining the local search and rescue team, which resulted in meeting a new friend, going for a ride with Esther and Joz, hanging with Karin and having a 'girls night' that included her adorable 18 month old daughter, and then spending a day of mindfulness with my Buddha buddies. This weekend continued with the friendship theme and I spent time with Leslie and Rob celebrating his birthday, going to a 'pre-Thanksgiving dinner' where there was an amazing group of people and wonderful hosts Karin and Tony, and today was spent in the mountains with Leslie and Di.

Now the best part of having friends is getting to share stories with them. Especially silly stories! So here's my silly story of the week...

Perhaps you all recall the issue with my swimsuit - how the liner is looking like Freddie Kruger got to it? Well, I've still been wearing it. I know, I know, I should have gotten a new one, but the shell is just fine so I'm thinking 'really is it necessary?' Well my swim on Thursday made me realize, yes Suse, it is necessary to get a new suit.

It all started early in the morning as I gathered up all my stuff for the pool. I went to step into said swimsuit and 'RIIIIIIPPP', my foot caught in one of the many holes in the liner and the liner tore in half.

Hmmm, I thought as I stared at the limp, lifeless liner. As the only other suit I own is in the laundry, I proceeded to do what any normal person would do, I got the snips out and just cut that ol' liner right out. Afterall, I was pretty sure the material of the suit was thick enough that no one would see any 'stuff'. I did; however, leave a wee bit of material in the undercarriage portion of the suit just in case...

So I get to the pool and jump in eager to swim my set. Not long after my suit got nice and saturated I remembered the other problem that I have with it every time I swim, but seem to forget every time after I swim - the straps appear to have stretched. Either that or I've shrunk. Which is a possibility.

The problem with this is that the 'girls' always seem to feel like they have more room to roam and float about. Not a huge issue when it's just us gals in the pool, but on days like today when there is a young man patrolling the pool side, well, then we have a bit of a problem. I do not want to be responsbile for his anatomy lessons!

Of course I was pretty sure that nothing was floating out into the open, but I'd stop every once in a while to look down and see what was going on. This, of course, was impossible with my goggles on so I'd take them off, do a quick non-chalant peek downward, then adjust to make sure and carry on with my swim. Not to mention it was tricky to try and pull the material over when one is wearing paddles.

Sometimes I'd reef on the straps and pull the material down my back in hopes that it would stay there. Funny how water just readjusts everything right back to the way it was. This issue occupied me for the majority of the swim, until the little old man entered into the scene. You know, I'd been wondering where he's been. I hadn't seen him in a while.

For those that don't know, the little old man is very tiny, very skinny gentleman with a slight hunchback. His claim to fame is that his preferred swimwear choice are very brief swimtrunks that are flesh coloured.

Trust me, the first time I got a glimpse of this I almost ingested all the water in the pool thinking I was looking at old man junk! This time, as I got to the end of my lane, I stopped and smiled at him in welcome. Perhaps I had some flesh showing myself because he never smiled back. Ah well. He still seems adorably sweet.

The last few laps of the workout consisted of me trying to concentrate on my swim, tugging at my suit with my paddles and trying not to swallow water whenever I'd get to the end of the pool and see what looked to be a skinny old man bare botttom looking at me. Seriously - why flesh coloured trunks?? Oh well, at least the flesh trunks and the thought of accidently seeing 'junk' kept my mind off my own swimsuit issues for a while.

Needless to say I made the oh so long trip into the city the next day and picked myself up a very nice looking purple suit that fits perfectly. Even took it out for a test drive on Saturday morning and I'm happy to report there was no incident involving me flashing my tata's. The girls were securely confined the entire 3400 m.

All that said, I still think I can get some mileage out of the old suit. Okay, so there's no liner, but maybe if I just sew the straps so they are tighter, maybe then things would stay put??

Peace out my beloved friends!