[…] I’m old but not when I go for a swim. A transformation takes place. In fact, it’s surprising how much younger the body feels in water.
What happens to the body in water — the flabby, bony, wrinkled body, I mean; my body, I mean — is a quiet miracle. You’re trudging along on land, reluctantly dragging the 1940s cargo vessel you’ve become, and then you step oh-so-carefully into the water.
As soon as your body feels the cool liquid element around you, you’re ageless. Memory takes you back to childhood, and you swim just as you did in your 20s, though this time you have brains.
And that’s the beauty of it. Age has endowed you with knowledge and experience. Now, in water, you have achieved the impossible. You’re young and old simultaneously. A wet Dorian Gray. […}
Obviously I feel none of that. I’m just an old man enjoying the water and the quiet, feeling peaceful if a bit tired, almost but not quite like an Irish selkie, who lives on land only temporarily, and whose true home is the sea.
— Roger Rosenblatt, from “Flabby, Wrinkled, Happy…I’m Old But Not When I Swim” (NY Times, August 2, 2025)
This was written for me! Thank you. In our winter-aquafit-courses I learned that, in water, you only carry 10% of your body weight, hence the possibility of ‘hard’ training for the 40’ class. Your real age, weight and condition however, not surprisingly, meets you when you try to climb the steep ladder to get out of the swimming pool….
A wonderful feature in the NYT. I think that’s one writer’s work I’d love to read. Thank you Dave.
So glad you enjoyed this Kiki. Thanks for letting me know.
What is it about summer that brings us back to childhood? Why in this season especially, do the memories come flooding back?
From the “cool liquid element” of water…the sound of neighborhoods still alive at 7:30 at night. Seeing friends and couples walking toward the beach. Each day holding promise.
Why is it now we feel the most nostalgic for the simplicity of being a kid? I’m not sure. But I feel it and this post reminded me again…. Time is a thief.
Hi Monday. Take your time.
So deep!
That’s me.
ah, summers and our childhoods
Yes!!!! Summertime!
Oh the blob, flab, and fat that comes from again. Thanks for the water. Swimming conceals them. Reminds me of beluga whales.
Still laughing.
What a fabulous post, the whole article fabulous. As someone who is now elderly I loved this.
So glad Majella. Thanks for sharing.