I love swimming at the Château Montebello pool so much, I wrote a poem

The importance of breathing 
by 
Julia Nadon

I back dive into the deep end

The coolness shocks my body

Why do I this again?

 The first lap always feels awkward

I flip and turn and push off the wall

Back and forth I swim

Reaching further with each stroke

My body turns into an efficient machine

My mind rushes like a movie screen

Playing clips of conversations and

Scenes from my life

Back and forth I swim

I become the observer

My worries blow away

Like clouds across the sky

Sitting meditation won't do it for me

In this pool, my body slices through the water

My mind slows down

I become aware of each and every breath

Lest I drown 

I've been swimming at this pool since I was little. My brother was a lifeguard there so of course anything he did I wanted to do (except for driving trucks for a living). I lifeguarded there when I was still in school and when I chose to come back to live here, one of the first things I did was start swimming here again. I've swum in pools in many places. None has the same calming effect. I hope to swim here until I die.