I am thankful for: public swimming pools and a winter wonderland

I love public (and private, but I am more thankful for the public ones) swimming pools. My mom loves to swim and passed her love on to me, and now I am passing it on to my daughter who, rather embarrassingly sometimes, screams of joy for a good 20 minutes when we get into the pool. My greatest athletic feats were done in a pool (and by that I mean that at some point I swam 1.5 – 2km 3 to 4 times a week for an extended period) and no matter how I feel going into the pool, I feel great coming out. I'm tired and will be sore tomorrow, but a nice kind of sore. I used to hate the entire changing ordeal because it meant I was already tired going into the pool and beyond exhausted after the shower-moisturiser-clothing session, but I've learned to slow down, do things at my own speed, and everyone else can just wait. I love the smell of chlorine, the feeling of weightlessness and the full-body stretch one gets just by swimming a bit. I went to the pool while I was quite pregnant and experienced the unique «stomach bobbing up» effect, and learning to swim was my first major accomplishment after I had major open heart surgery.

So today I have two things to be thankful for: the public swimming pool we went to this afternoon, and the view we had on the way there. Driving from Trondheim to Heimdal isn't always the most pleasant view (though the river and the hills are pretty), but it had just snowed a bit so that every roof and every branch of every tree was covered with an immaculate coat of fresh powdery snow. Add to that the dimming light of late afternoon (sun down, but not total darkness) and the flickering lights in the windows and the view so perfect it looked like one of those fake sugar coated scenes. Absolutely beautiful.