Back in the day when I was in grade school, Russ was a serious part of School Camp on Lake Mitchell in Cadillac, and every little girl and most of the big girls had a mad crush on the good looking, bronze-tanned well-built Life Guard. For several years as a camper, I was one of them. When I graduated from camper to counselor, it was revealed that I couldn't swim, and unfortunately or fortunately, Russ overheard the conversation.
Russ insisted I was going to learn to swim if only to save myself.. So, much to my chagrin during the rest period after lunch, Russ, a paddle board and I made our way out to the raft some 20-30 feet away from shore where he asked me what could I do. Well, as it turned out I could "dog paddle" some and I could sort of side stroke.
He watched my feeble attempts to side stroke and decided I had the arms down, but I didn't know zip about how to use my legs and proceeded to teach me how to combine the two. My final assignment, using only the paddle board, was to side stroke back to shore, and off I went.
To my embarrassment, the rest period had ended and I, a counselor mind you, had the campers lined up on the beach cheering me into shore. Most of those campers could swim circles around me and I knew it. I will never forget that event, and admittedly my crush lessened as my embarrassment increased. Thanks Russ. I've told that story on many occasions since then and it always brought a smile including mine.
