The Water Gene: Heredity or Gift Given?

My first memories of water come in the form of mother's words telling how, at two years of age, I walked into the swimming pool and bobbed around until she fished me out. I think there might have been fear attached to that story. Mine or hers I do not know. I vaguely remember my first swimming lessons. I was nine years old. What I remember is fear. I recall that as soon as I could kick and fin on my back the length of the Rexburg Municipal swimming pool, ( I don't think I liked to have my face in the water) I was enlisted to work out with Cherie Eddy and the swim team. I have no memory of comfort in those water experiences. It was the most traumatic experience that changed everything. Our new, male, and somewhat stern swim coach knew that I had untapped potential. At that point in time, I could only muster up enough courage to swim 25 yards then I would hang on the wall, gasp, rest, and begin again every few minutes. One evening he screamed and yelled at me to keep going. He walked beside me from end to end and yelled at me when I tried to stop and rest. I cried and coughed underwater as I swam length after length. I was angry and terribly frightened. I must at one point have feigned cough induced vomiting and taken refuge in the locker room. I cowered there until practice was over. When Mom picked me up I was perched on the curb blubbering. I spilled the sad story through snot and sobs. I don't remember what happened next, except, I was never afraid in the water again. I became a natural swimmer, an extension of the water. I find such peace and pleasure there...in the weight of its silky silence. People often tell me that I am a beautiful swimmer. I am unaware of what I look like in the water but I do know that I feel at home, at peace, at one with the water. A sweet friend of mine, after first seeing me in the waves of the ocean, called me a true selkie.

The Selkie legends belong to the islands and coasts of Scotland and Ireland. They tell of seals who can become human and humans who can become seals. At certain times the Selkie are drawn to land, when they take off their skins to become human. If their skins are stolen from them, they can never return to the sea. (This is plagiarized by the way)

I have to confess that I am actually a human girl but I do relate to this mythological creature. When my eye doctor told me that I should not swim again at risk of losing my vision earlier than later...my response was that I could sooner stop breathing. There must be something selkish in my aura as my students (unprompted by me) created a fictional narrative with Ms. Watson as the main character who transforms, at the full moon, into a sea roaming creature that swims and hunts sea lions while longing for the love of a Coast Guard Rescue Swimmer (there is an explanation behind this that only Special Education students can understand!) At day break, I turn back into a human, don my squeaky teacher shoes and arrive at school with still wet hair. If you look closely, (and many of them do) sometimes I will still have the bloody flesh of sea lions stuck in my teeth! Their presentation of this story in the regular education English class made me quite famous. For several days following, regular education students would peek their heads in my classroom door hoping for a chance glance at the "freaky" Ms. Watson.

As for what others see, and in my students' case, imagine about me in the water, I cannot explain. Just as I cannot hope to put into words the depth of my love for the water. According to Mom, it is the water gene. Whatever it is...I am eternally grateful for the gift given. It serves me well and offers me much. It is definitely a gift...but is it genetic?