"Yes, I swim with a Trach."

What follows is my practice essay for part one of the CLEP college composition essays. I had 30 minutes to write my essay ( I used 40 but handwritten so I’m hoping that I can give myself some slack for the first practice essay). The challenge is to respond to the prompt:

There are no challenges so difficult, no goals so impossible, as the ones we set for ourselves.

I have attached the link below for the rubric the essay would be assessed on. Please feel free to comment with feedback or email me.

Scroll down to First Essay: Directions and Scoring Guidelines

https://clep.collegeboard.org/exam/college-composition

I whispered to my mother (with an accompanying heavy glare) “No, stop, I already know.” I didn’t really know the answer to the question. I had spent endless hours thinking about it and doing research. I did know the answer Dr. Mathew Clary would give.

               “So, can she swim with the trach, should she?” my mother posed the question I’d spent all of my time pondering.

               “Yeah, sure, I mean keep the Trach capped but a few splashes should be fine.” Dr. Clary openly responded.

               “No, no, swim, like laps and such.” My mother corrected Dr. Clary’s landscape he’d so quickly painted. I received the equivalent of a doctor’s “professional” spit-take in the form of a facial expression.

               “You’ve got to be nuts!” I grinned, I knew this was the perfect challenge for me. “You are out of your mind.” Dr. Clary, still, profoundly flabbergasted by my persistence to swim with a trach, continued to utter statemenets reflecting amazement, but not exactly a presecription for exercising in the water where death loomed in the unknown. I had my end goal laced into my mind. I would one day find myself jumping off the starting blocks racing my way through the water with a tracheostomy in place. While there is nothing easy about the goals I place in front of myself, the challenges that line the path are merely impossible to those unwilling to try or those on the outside. I have found the goals other individuals set for myself are the impossible.

               I am the younger of two type A incredibly driven females, comparison came naturally. My older sister by 4 years competed as a student athlete, achieved honors academically and athletically throughout high school, so there would be to expect nothing less from “Little Beckley.” By th second month of my Freshmen year, it was evident I would not trace my sisters footsteps in achievements as the expectation I had felt from others. A month before conference championships in high school swimming, medical problems that appeared to be deadly reactions to many things, including the pool, kept me on the side of my sister’s steps. I quickly began to take myown untraveled path. I still ahd my own dreams and goals but they were focused on my view of possible and my passions. In the end I too graduated with academic success and athletic success in my goals.

               I didn’t swim competitively again until my freshman year of college. I found myself struggling with health again; however, this time I had a continuance of broken bones plaguing my dreams. I was not excluded from swimming in the first meet but I was not cleared either as a potential underlying fracture had not been evaluated. When the assistant coaches asked if I would be swimming as I loaded the bus, I grinned, “S***, I’ve forgotten my suit, I’ll be right back.” I swam my fastest 50 free at my first college swim meet with what later showed as a stress fracture in my left foot.

               As I smile nostalgically at my past with swimming, I see the goals I’ve achieved and the ones I did not. The goals set by others were truly impossible. Each challenge I tackled to my own personal goals, was not easy but I made my it all possible. The spirit of the statement “There are no challenges so difficult, no goals so impossible, as the ones we set for ourselves,” reflects the human nature to push boundaries which is also reflected in my own goals; however, as a romantic I believe anything is possible.

               6 weeks later I returned to my ENT’s office. Before leaving I pulled out my phone “Oh, I would like to show you something.” I pressed play. A neon inverted video proceeded of a girl swimming, accompanied by words and music. (https://www.facebook.com/beckleyjulia3/videos/vb.1369626920/10205343264445652/?type=2&theater)

               In a different wave of astonishment Dr. Clary looked at me “That’s you?”

               “Yes, I swim with my trach.”

The Chapter I am in: Learning to Dance

     We walked around the tennis courts at City Park in Denver looking for the perfect spot. I knew this park well from years of playing tennis there against Denver East High School; however, today's visit was different. Megan, a dear friend from Coe College, was visiting for the week. She had never been to Colorado, and per tradition needed to go dancing in Colorado to check the state off. We would spend less than 30 minutes going over the basics of Lindy Hop (a type of swing dancing). Following dancing lessons with a brief intermission for food and than off to Baur's to listen to the Spicy Pickles while dancing the evening away. I only danced for a few songs with Megan throughout the evening but it was the start of something incredible. Surrounded my a new community to for myself and Toby, I found happiness and hope; the intangible feelings I had been short on many times throughout the past year. A couple of days later we went dancing again at the Mercury cafe, and Megan helped make sure I was prepared. I pre-treated, taped my ankles, and felt great going into the dancing. I got to dance with a few very experienced dancers making it easier to follow.
     The importance of my dancing story is not just how happy I was and am dancing but how I have applied this to my life most recently. In the second grade I remember learning how to dance, I don't know exactly what type of dancing but I do remember something about "the pretzel." I thought I was happy with the level of my dance knowledge as is and didn't feel that I could really dance anyways if I tried (not just intellectually but more out of physical fear, and I still have this struggle). After recent conversations I was reminded of this idea of freedom from illness and health, living much more than I have. More and more that feeling of freedom has appeared in little bits and I've thought about having better grasp over health. This idea has always been the goal but I feel that I am coming into a season of which I will learn to live again but not without obstacles. So I've decided to think about this in comparison to learning to dance "again." While I may have known some basics years ago of dancing and life, I am learning the basics all over again. Listening to both the music and my body I will learn to follow the rhythm. I will find pattern in my feet and breaths I take to have better autonomy and management of how I move my body and flow through my life. I will learn the basic movements and basics of living all over again. In the end of this chapter I will find myself with a different level of life and dancing.

Thanks to Brooke Jostad, for posting a question on Facebook of "what would the title of the chapter of life you're in be?" Please feel free to respond in the comments or email me at joulesandjules@gmail.com or fb respond! Prayers and love to all!