It’s homecoming weekend at my kids’ school…which was also my school and Bobby’s school, so, we are going to the homecoming game tonight to see some of our fellow alumni and watch my 16-year-old nephew Charles Robert be a cheerleader for the Powder Puff game. Which should be hilarious!
Oh and speaking of hilarious? And homecoming? I thought you might like to take a peek at Bobby and I when we went to homecoming together our freshman year, fall of 1992. We were on the Homecoming COURT. Yeah baby! THIS is what royalty looks like!
Me inside a large tree during my college years. This picture has nothing to do with the story, but I needed a picture from my college years with me looking like an idiot, and since I was a boring good girl, this is all I got!
When I was a child, my caring, responsible parents took my brothers to swimming lessons. As you might guess, they learned to swim there. By the time their blessed third child came around, they were apparently over water safety, and just waited for me to grow tall enough to survive in the four foot and smart enough to stay out of the deep end. Which I did. I did not, however, learn how to swim.
So, many moons later, at the ripe old age of 20, and lacking a PE credit I needed to graduate, I decided to take “Beginning Swimming” for PE. I was actually pretty scared but I decided I really did need how to know how to swim, so I went for it. There were about 10 of us in the class, and I discovered on the first day that…I was the only one who didn’t know how to swim. The rest were hardly beginners. I mean, I think if you already know how to do the breast stroke, you are not a beginner. If you can’t go under water without holding your nose, you are a beginner.
So not only was I having to appear in front of my peers in a bathing suit twice a week, I was also the dullest pencil in the box for sure.
Did my peers make fun of me for my lack of ability? Oh no! Rather,they practically coddled me. I quickly became the class pet. The teacher, who was also the swim coach, pretty much let one of her teaching assistants/swim team members take on the duty of personally teaching me and just blew her whistle while everyone else practiced their strokes.
Class after class, every time I reached a new swimming milestone, the class members cheered for me. The first time I had to dive, I was terrified, and everyone gathered around to um, “encourage” me while my student instructor pushed me in. (They also cheered when he fished me out.)
By the end of the semester, I could swim. Swim laps, even. Breathe to the side, dive, and go under without holding my breath. I found myself quite pleased and rather surprised! I never got beyond freestyle and backstroke, but I could swim! (I still can, but I must say I am rather out of practice on the laps and side-breathing, whew!) I even frequently returned to the pool to swim laps for exercise for the remainder of my college career.
Now when I go to the pool with my kids, I feel very comfortable in the water. (And yes, they’ve had swimming lessons. Sophie’s are still ongoing! I want them to learn before adulthood.) And sometimes, when I have something difficult ahead of me in life, I close my eyes and think back to that moment when a crowd of students stood behind me with encouraging words and my instructor pushed me in. I think because of that moment, I’ve been able to give myself more than a few pushes, and I’m grateful.
Have you ever been in a group where you were the underdog? What did you learn from that experience?
Friday night Bobby and I got all dressed up and went out on a DATE. The occasion: our 13th wedding anniversary, and the 100th anniversary of the Great Dayton Flood of 1913. Our anniversary is today, March 25th, and that is also the day the city’s levees broke 100 years ago, after a wet winter and four punishing days of unprecedented rain. Being a history nerd, I’ve always thought that was kind of cool. The shared anniversary, I mean.
It’s our lucky 13th anniversary!
Because of the 100th anniversary of the flood, there are plenty of exhibits on the subject to be found around town. Bobby and I got dressed up Friday to celebrate our anniversary by going to the Dayton Art Institute’s social media preview night of their 1913 Flood exhibit. I was interested in seeing an artistic take on this momentous event in our city’s history. It did not disappoint! I’ll tell you all about it in just a sec. But first, a little background for you non-Daytonians.
Dayton sits on the Great Miami River, and downtown developed at a place where five rivers come together. Dayton had always had periodic flooding, and had some big old levees to protect the city. The levees had overflowed before, but never straight-out broken. Compounding the problem was the Miami & Erie canal, which ran right through downtown (where Patterson Boulevard is now). When the giant storm system moved in on Easter weekend in 1913, it dumped three months worth of rain on the region in four days – onto cold ground that was already saturated from a snowy, icy winter.
It was pretty much the perfect storm.
When the levees broke, water rushed into downtown and into low-lying areas just north of the river. Over 360 people died, 20,000 homes were destroyed (not to mention businesses), and 65,000 people were displaced. A lot more people would have perished if it weren’t for a lot of heroic actions by neighbors helping neighbors. The rescue stories are incredible!
The flood is one of my favorite subjects and I could go on and on, but I won’t. You can find more information and some great pictures here at Dayton History.
But back to the exhibit at the Dayton Art Institute. It’s actually three exhibits in one. The first part is Storm, beautiful, very large paintings of storms by artist April Gornik that are intense and energetic. I am hardly an art critic so forgive my inept descrition – but they are striking to say the least. We weren’t allowed to take photographs of Gornik’s paintings, but that’s ok, because you should go see them yourself if you can.
The second part of the exhibit is Watershed: 100 Years of Photography along the Great Miami River. This was my very favorite, and most historical part of the exhibit. There were many amazing old photographs of the flood and its aftermath, paired with new photographs of the same modern-day locations, taken by talented Dayton photographer Andy Snow.
Both sets of photographs were absolutely amazing, the older set because of the drama and devastation they portrayed, and the newer set because of the clarity and artistry involved in creating the modern-day portraits. You must go see it! The exhibit contained photographs not from just Dayton, but from towns all up and down the Great Miami river – an entire region was devastated, not just a city. There were pictures from Piqua, Troy, Miamisburg, West Carrollton, Hamilton, Franklin, and more. The destruction went for miles and miles.
Another component of the Watershed portion was a display of old hand-tinted lantern slides depicting the flood waters and aftermath. The curator explained to us that these slides equate to the Powerpoint presentation of today. After the flood, these slides were used in the campaign to raise funds for the Miami Conservancy District to build the system of dams we have today that protect us from another catastrophic flood event. The campaign, with the slogan “Remember the Promises You Made in the Attic” (many were marooned in attics and on rooftops for three to four days) was wildly successful and raised $2 million dollars – in 1913 money – in TEN DAYS. Mostly from plain old private citizens who were affected by the flood! Here are a few of those convincing images (I took these photographs of the lantern slides with my camera at the exhibit):
Note the street lamps just barely above the water lineThis is fairly close to where I live today. But my house is on high ground and wasn’t built until 4 years after the flood.Aftermath: This neighborhood is just north of downtown, right on the river
Can you even imagine? I surely cannot.
The final part of the exhibit is called Riverbank: Exploring our River-Centered Development. This is an interactive display with images of the city’s river development projects (some that happened, some that didn’t) over the years. It was really interesting, especially for those of us who are proponents of downtown. But it wasn’t nearly as eye-appealing as the other two components of the exhibit.
If you’re in Dayton, I hope you will go see this exhibit! If you buy a ticket to the DAI’s exhibit, you get 1/2 off the exhibit at Dayton History’s Carillon park – which is going to be my next stop on my flood tour. I can’t wait!
Oh, and happy anniversary to my husband of 13 years! Since they had a flood 100 years ago and we have a snow storm for today, I sure am glad we had beautiful weather in 2000! Love you, baby. In flood and in blizzard (and sunshine, too).
