Diary of a Swimmer

You own everything that happened to you. Tell your stories. If people wanted you to write warmly about them, they should have behaved better.
― Anne Lamott

Emotionally I feel like I have been living on cheese doodles and oreos. I never eat those things but after reading the NYT lately I feel psychologically poisoned. I am now deliberately staying away from any news about Darth Vader, aka you know who. Swimming and walking are the ways I prevent full blown despair. A day without swimming is like a day without oxygen. My unswerving dedication has improved my technique. That's the silver lining.

I woke up remembering the time I stayed overnight at my sister's house. The next morning she greeted me with What the hell, it sounded like you were wearing shoes on the way to the bathroom. I wasn't. She's a light sleeper. The truth is she didn't know how to say 'You can't stay here,' so she held it in and then burst into a rage over nothing. The members of my original family are not introspective, nor do they have humility or apology for their bad behavior. Does this remind you of the gorilla in the news cycle?

A little talent is a good thing to have if you want to be a writer. But the only real requirement is the ability to remember every scar.
— Stephen King