I took a breath

The only thing in my life that seems to ever truly make me feel at peace is when I'm in water. One particularly sad time in my life, I thought going swimming would help. I can't swim without earplugs so I have the most expensive pair of earplugs you can own. Each pair is fitted by an Ear Specialist to the specific shape of my ear canal. I sat on the edge of the pool and tried to resign myself to getting in the cold water. I had my toes barely in the water and kept trying to think about all the things in my life that made me happy but I could think of nothing. "Get in the water, just swim- you'll feel at peace. Jump in. Jump in."

I put my right ear plug in. I went to put my my left earplug in and it slipped out of my hands into the pool drain. It disappeared.

I talked to the lifeguard as my eyes were brimming over with tears. He told me that they only drained the Olympic sized pool once every month and my ear plug would be covered in slim by that time and not in good shape.

You know those moments when you have something and it's a symbol of something much greater? That was my little blue earplug. I knew I wouldn't get in the water without it.

I called him every Friday at 2pm to see if they had drained the pool. Finally, as he promised, a month had gone by and he said he had retrieved my earplug.

It was weathered so much now that it looked more like white than blue. It was missing the bottom half. I put it in my ear and oddly, it still prevented water from coming in. I went swimming that day.

I was swimming free style and every other stroke I turned my head to take a breath.