Thank You Ruth Ann

Though you had that last name

That was hard to pronounce

I think it started with a "O"

Smile you taught us how to swim

Those sometimes cold mornings

In the pool with our paddle boards

Learning to drown-proof

Playing Marco-Polo

Learning to hold our breath

Under the cold water

Learning to flutter kick

The American Crawl or Australian

The Breast Stroke, the side stroke and the back stroke

Getting deeper from beginner, to advanced to intermediate

Some of us even made it to swimmer and Life Guards

I can still see the high-dive

That I could not dive off

You and the other American Red Cross life guards

Just could not coax me to dive

Smile that has been a long time ago

And every time I dive beneath the quiet of the surf

Or the lake

I remember all the hard work

It took you and others

So that now I can join the ranks of the swimmers

Thank You Ruth Ann