The joy of feeling normal

Third time's a charm! I finally made it to Adult Lap swim in the Sunset Park pool! Only, I got there at 8:10, and had to wait in line for my card, and by the time I got to the deck it was 8:15, and I thought lap swim was open til 9, but it was only open til 8:30, so I only got a short little morning swim. So, third time's almost a charm.

BUT ... check this out. The pool is huge. After the previous night's rain it was (or had the illusion of being) incredibly fresh and clean. It was chilly. It was big enough that it actually felt a little bit like swimming in a lake. (With other people. And lane lines.) But something about the fresh morning air and the vastness of the pool were incredibly refreshing, and reminded me of swimming on summer mornings in my hometown. So much so that after I was done swimming, I decided not to change out of my suit, but to just wrap a towel around me and walk to my car to shower when I got home. This is completely normal behavior if you live in the country. It is not completely normal behavior if you live in the city, but I felt great, and actually more like myself than I have ever felt in the city, as I walked the one and a half blocks to my car. Despite people's confused looks. Maybe even in part because of people's confused looks, because they only increased my awareness of the fact that I was doing something that felt very normal to me. And damn, did it feel good to feel normal!

Late additions. Not going to write for long, because I'm preserving my time, but I had the real delight to have dinner with Linda, Don, and Lea—in town from Wisconsin and Minnesota, and hailing originally (well, originally within the context of my knowing them) from my hometown.

And then it was on to meet Josh and James to see the spectacular new play with music, Choir Boy, at Manhattan Theater Club. If you are near NYC, and you have the ability, and there are tickets available, go go go. This play looks at everything I love to see addressed in the theater—race, gayness, teen relationships, our reckoning with history, taking a principled moral stand—all with stunning music and great humor. I am incredibly glad I got to see it, and that I got to share it with my family.