My Grandfather was an avid picture taker of me from the time I was born until the time he died (which was right before I turned five). We were unspeakably close and those four years were the most well documented ones of my entire life to date (which is handy because I don't remember much from them). He wrote on each a caption and dated it accordingly. Some of my favorite picture finds happen to be of me in my favorite little ruffled bikini splashing around in a plastic blue kiddy pool set up in their massive backyard. I was all smiles as I wielded a hose, splashed, and wasted away my happy summers as a youth.

When I was young, before I started school, we moved into an apartment complex. We lived there for about two years and I really only have a handful of distinctive memories. One of them includes Mom, Dad, and me getting ready to go swim at the comlex's pool. We had a laundry room but at the time we didn't have a washer or dryer (some other memories would stem from going to the laundry mat each week with my father). Instead, we filled it with seasonal things like Christmas decorations and most importantly summer things. We had floaties and pool toys galore. I remember all of us standing in the living room in our swim-suits, Dad laboriously applying Banana Boat or Coppertone sunscreen to every exposed inch of skin and my mother blowing up a beach ball. That apartment complex pool was simply spectacular even if I couldn't swim at the time.

I met my best friend Callista Marie between the summer of fourth and fifth grade. I often found myself bored during the summer so I practically begged my parents to put me into a summer day-camp which they eventually consented to. I was dropped off early in the morning and picked up mid-afternoon. My friends from school went but there was another day-camp just down the road where another batch of kids went. After a long morning of sitting in a stuffy basketball gym and then going to the park for lunch, it was finally time to hit the pool. We went to the pool everyday for three hours. It was my absolute favorite part of the day especially because the kids from the other camp came at the same time we did. My best friend at the time Victoria went to the other camp. One day at the pool Victoria introduced me to her friend 'Callie.' We instantly became friends and we've been friends for about 7-8 years now!

As a kid, I was impossible to get out of the water. Pools fascinated me and I never turned down an opportunity to swim. I liked water parks, friends with pools, the community pool, hotel pools, and any other sort of pool. However, I had the most irrational fear for a good part of my youth. I had a fear of things being in the water. Mainly, I was terrified of snakes and sharks that could sneak up on me whilst swimming. My largest fear in the world was going underwater, coming up for air, being in an empty pool, and then going back under under only to face a man-eating shark swimming my way. It was stupid and I kept it a secret but it was a huge fear I harbored while swimming.

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