grace
/ɡrās/
noun
simple elegance or refinement of movement.
"she moved through the water with effortless grace"
This is Google’s definition of Grace.
I’d love to say I have “simple elegance” or “refinement of movement,” but I’d be lying. And I’d especially be lying if I said I move through water with effortless grace.
I know this for a fact – I used to swim competitively.
I use the word competitive lightly. Every time I dove into the pool, my goggles fell off, effectively waterboarding my eyes with chlorine. After playing pinball with my body against the lane lines, I’d look up at the blurry image of my mom cheering me on from the end of the pool.
"Did I win?"
"Yup!" my mom would say as she helped me out of the pool and into my towel, rushing me off to eat a chocolate chip muffin. I didn’t know that she was actually diverting my attention from all the swimmers who had finished long before me.
As you can see, swimming’s not my sport, and to be honest, I never had the torso for it. Luckily, writers don’t need an abnormally tall midsection or a mom hiding their losses – they’re much too public for that. And in my opinion, being less-than-graceful can be kind of charming. Is it working?