Diving In

It may seem strange for many people, but I never learned to swim. We lived in the country and driving "into town" to take swimming lessons wasn't a priority when I was growing up. As a result, neither me nor my siblings learned how to swim.

It was always something in the back of my mind that I thought "I should really take some lessons". But, never got around to it. Last summer, Jo-Anne & I were at the beach with our families when the guys took a load of stuff to the vehicles. We were left with the boys on the shoreline. Not a big deal, but the waves were huge that day and they wanted to get in a few more before we had to leave. We were both uncomfortable with them being in the water since neither of us could swim. I think that was the moment I decided I needed to act.

So, a few weeks ago I inquired at our local pool about adult lessons. I signed up and suited up. My instructor is great! By the end of my first lesson I was actually swimming!

I must say, it is quite an unusual and amazing feeling to push off from the edge of the pool and feel my body hovering at the surface. I am now able to swim 15 meters!

I don't expect to compete in any races or achieve any accolades, but conquering my fear of the water and learning to swim at 41 feels pretty good to me.

My Top Tech

I want to take a moment and shamelessly brag about my husband. He deserves it!

In December, Devin & I volunteered through Cummins to pack hampers for the Salvation Army. The gentleman that organized this event is Cummins' trainer. He's the guy that teaches all the techs how to service the different engines. That day, Mike was encouraging the technicians to enter Cummins' Top Tech Challenge. He explained there are three levels to the competition, each with a cash prize. As he pointed out, it can't hurt to try.

I was intrigued. I knew Devin's abilities and thought he had a good chance at winning. Unfortunately, he was in the Arctic when the written test was administered. We thought he would have to pass this year, but they actually gave him the opportunity to write the test when he returned.

Several weeks later, Devin received an invitation to participate in a call regarding the competition. I eagerly awaited his phone call to give me the update. He tried to play it cool and ask me how my day was going, but I knew he had news to share!

Out of 49 participating technicians across Canada, Devin has the TOP score in the written test. The overall mark is made up of this test, plus his manager's review, safety rating, efficiency, etc. So, with that factored in, he was in second place - by a hair! The top score is 92.3 and Devin's score is 91.7. Talk about close!

He has won $500 USD and moves on to the next round of the competition. At the end of the month, we will travel to Montreal where the top three technicians will compete. Should he win that hands-on challenge, he will win $5,000 USD and move on to compete against the top American and top Mexican technicians in Indiana. I may be biased, but I think he has a great chance of winning!