Pooling My Resources

 

It's life-changing.   And it started very simply.

Years ago.

In much younger days, my lifelong bestie Leo and I decided to take swimming lessons together.  Instead of lounging at Jones Beach, we endeavored to actually get into the water.  Well, I would guess we went about five or six weeks and then life got into the way.

Flash forward to present day.   My pal, living in the same California locale as me, announces that he has started to take lessons again and finally finish the training from decades ago.  Now this got me thinking.  It would be fun to revisit this with him years later.  More importantly, swimming has been recommended to me as a great therapeutic ritual for my newly replaced knees and starting-to-ache hips.

Hmmm.

Leo was going with his wife to a community pool and there were also water aerobics and the latter was a turn-off.   Hanging around a pool with a bunch of old ladies channeling Esther Williams choreography.

If I was going to do this, I wanted a more personal approach.  And a private one.  

I turned to, of all devices, Yelp.   I typed in "private swim coach."  Welp, I got a lot of nothing.  Mostly people looking to teach their toddler to float in their Bel Air back yard.   

But one caught my eye.  A young guy named Yusuf who actually missed qualifying for the Moroccan team headed to the recent Paris Olympics.  Since his father is from Morocco, he was able to be on their team.   Moreover, according to Yelp, he had quite the list of students who raved about his teaching abilities.  I gave him a call.

He responded quickly and I told him that, yes, finally completing my swimming training was a goal.   But I also slipped in the rehab tales of my two knees.   Yusuf honed in on that.

And, frankly, that has been the focus ever since.  From him, I am getting weekly water therapy that has had an amazing impact on my mobility.   This is one smart guy.   He knows how the body is connected.

When I did my monthly check-in with my fabulous physical therapist Justin, he was astounded how much progress I had made after two weeks in a pool.  Justin was so impressed that he invited Yusuf in to meet his staff in the happenstance that there could be patient referrals between the two.  All of a sudden, Yusuf (and his brother Noah) had a thriving business model.  And it was all because of a Yelp referral.

And my friend Leo picking up something we had given up years ago.   Thanks to all of the above, I am drowning...

...in gratitude.

Dinner last night:  Leftover Chinese food.