Red Headed, Speckled Beak, White Tailed Water Bug

Sure, I may not be the fastest swimmer in the world or have the prettiest technique, but when I swim a flood of great memories enters my head.
My swimming started at Grandaddy's Lake. Grandaddy's Lake is Lake Table Rock near Branson, MO. He lives on a cove of the lake where he has been retired for several years now.

Grandaddy's lake is beautiful! It is in the middle of the Ozarks. On every side of the lake are trees and trees and rolling hills. It's not unusual to see a Great Blue Heron or Red Headed Woodpecker while swimming on your back. While looking down into the water you can always see Blue Gill and Sun Fish. If you swim to the bottom and lift a rock, the odds are that you will find at least one Crawdad. 

Every summer each and every one of my cousins (myself included) would have a chance to spend a week with my grandparents.

Most of the week was centered around lake time. Every grandkids unspoken step into adulthood was swimming across the cove and back.

Of course, there were many small obstacles that we had to overcome before taking on the task of crossing the cove. The first step was to make it to the neighbor's dock. While I was working on this, Grandaddy would stand out several yards from me with a big smile on his face. As I would swim towards him he would gradually back up. He would keep backing up until I couldn't go any further and then he was always right there.

The other life guard and coach at Grandaddy's house was Winifred (Winny), the black lab. While in the water, Winny would never let us leave her sight! Most of the time, she would actually be swimming circles around us.

One contest at the lake was to see who could dive to the bottom of the lake and retrieve the biggest rock. This contest always put Winny on edge!

After a couple of years of working up my distance, I was finally able to swim across the cove and back. The celebration entitled me to call to tell Mom and Dad about this amazing accomplishment! It also helped my passage into manhood. Now that I could swim across the lake, I could swim with my older cousins, aunts and uncles, and my Grandaddy and dad!

Because of my love of the water and one unfortunate incident while jumping off the dock... Grandaddy called me The Red Headed, Speckled Beak, White Tailed Water Bug.