HiSET Practice Test 15

Draft Personal Narrative: Learning to Float at Forty

(1) I grew up three hours from the nearest beach, and my family never owned a pool pass. (2) By the time I turned forty, I had spent my whole life avoiding water deeper than my knees. (3) When my daughter joined a swim team, I sat in the bleachers every Saturday, cheering for her and secretly feeling ashamed. (4) One morning, a coach named Mrs. Albright sat down beside me and asked whether I swam. (5) I admitted that I had never learned. (6) She smiled and told me that her adult beginners' class met on Tuesday nights.

(7) The first lesson was harder than I expected. (8) Five other beginners and I stood in the shallow end, gripping the wall, while Mrs. Albright explained how to float on our backs. (9) Every time I leaned back, my legs sank and I panicked, I grabbed the wall again. (10) "Your body wants to float," Mrs. Albright told me. (11) "You just have to let it."

(12) For three weeks, I practiced relaxing my shoulders, breathing slowly, and to trust the water. (13) On the fourth Tuesday, I leaned back, spread my arms, and felt the water hold me up. (14) I lay there staring at the ceiling lights, and for the first time in my life, the water seemed like a friend instead of an enemy.

(15) Last summer, my daughter and I swam across Lake Tolliver together. (16) She beat me to the dock, but I didn't care one single bit about that at all.