Swim for Grand Traverse Bay

My parents gave me the gift of swim lessons at age 3 and it changed my life, giving me new access to my body, silent companionship, and the natural world. 

When I was in my early thirties, I experienced an auto-immune condition that had many difficult impacts on my life. One of the most difficult ones was that I was no longer able to swim, when up until then swimming had been a refuge for my entire life. 

For years, every time I tried to swim, I would end up terribly sick. So I just stopped thinking of swimming as an option for my life. I focused elsewhere, and also grieved a lot. 

Then, eight years after my auto-immune condition hobbled me, a serendipitous lake encounter showed me that was body might still be able to swim. It was such a joyful reunion, me and the water. But now I was a mother of an infant, with no time to sneak off for long swims anywhere, especially not in big bodies of water. 

But things slowly change. I still don't feel like I have enough time to myself, but 12 years after I did my last big open water swim, I'm determined to do this one. So that my toddler can see me running out of the wild water after 2 miles of swimming and knows that this, too, is what mothers do. 

I'm also doing this race to honor the waters of this place I now call home, and all of the water and land protectors who have taken care of these life-giving beings for the duration of time. We are nothing without clean water. We owe our gratitude to water every day. 

Please help me protect the rivers, lakes and beaches of my home place by supporting my swim with a donation to The Watershed Center (TWC), a nonprofit organization that advocates for the health of Grand Traverse Bay and acts to protect and preserve the bay’s watershed. You donation is tax-deductible. 

I'll be calling your presence to mind as I swim, grateful for your support. Let the cold, wild frolic begin!

With love and gratitude,

Katy