Swimmer in the Bright Pink Cap

The Joy of Feeling Seen

Jul 14, 2025

Hi friends, and welcome, newcomers! This is a very short story in my Aging Up series, focused on developing and discovering strength, resilience, and wisdom as our bodies and minds evolve over time. Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild invited me to write in response to a painting by my friend Judy Catterton. Last week, I read the story and Judy talked about her work at an event called Art in the A.M. Here is the story and the painting, with Judy’s permission.

Lately, she’s been missing the athletic grace of her youth.
She’s been mourning that youth.

They see her. They say things:

“She’s out there again.”

“Who?”

“Look. The swimmer in the bright pink cap.”

When the swimmer in the bright pink cap turns to breathe, she looks toward the coast. She needs to stay parallel to the shore, beyond the breakers but not too far beyond, not so immersed in amphibious bliss that she accidentally veers off toward Portugal, never to be seen again.

What she sees are animated shapes: cartoon colors skipping in the surf. The shapes and colors make for pleasing scenery, like the sky and the seagulls: natural beauty in the form of sunny swimsuits and shiny inner tubes – and, now, wow, a golden goddess, arms upraised in the praise position.

The swimmer in the bright pink cap swims smoothly on by.

Later, on the boardwalk, she carefully balances cap, goggles, sandals, and towel on the narrow frame of an overhead shower and tries to rinse off quickly because people are waiting in line.

The people say things.

“We saw you!” they say. “You’re the swimmer! I saw that cap!”

She smiles, surprised yet again that, given all the things there are to do at the beach, people have spent time watching her freestyle: left arm, right arm, left arm, breathe. She was just doing what she has always done, for most of her 69 years.

Lately, she’s been missing the athletic grace of her youth.

She’s been mourning that youth.

But these people – who have become people now, not just scenery – they see her.

The things they say, they say with appreciation, almost awe, almost reverence, as if they had spotted a dolphin – and now the dolphin has swum ashore and is standing upright, on the boardwalk, showering right there in front of them.

The author (left) with the artist (right): Judy Catterton, at the Rehoboth Beach Writers Guild Art in the A.M. reading last week.

Invitation: Last month, my friends and I launched a new Substack, Women’s Sports Policy. Subscribe to hear from champion athletes, leaders, and lifelong women’s sports experts about how to restore female-only sports and spaces — a topic I will also continue to cover in Stronger Women.

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