“Never miss an opportunity to swim,” someone said to me recently. “Whether it’s a lake, sea or ocean, if you’re close to water, jump in.” Last week, as I stood on the dock of my sister-in-law’s cabin, an overcast sky above me, I kept hearing the words, (echoed by my husband and our four-year-old son) “jump in, jump in.” With a childhood spent in the Aegean, you’d think I would be used to cold water. But lakes are different, they’re brown and murky, with snakes in them, too. But I did jump in. And it was amazing, mostly because Antimo was in my arms with a grin the size of Muskoka on his face. Today, Iole and I took Luma for her first swim at our local community centre, something I’ve been meaning to do for months and months. She was a “duck to water,” as they say, which is no surprise considering the hours we spent in the pool together while I was pregnant with her. She knows those salt waters well. I hope she, and her brother and sister, will always know and love the water the way Jason and I do. And I hope, that when open water, be it lake or ocean stands before them, that they always dive in.