Dunk Tank

I was probably 16 or so when I went to a block party with some friends. They had a dunk tank going, mostly to occupy the kids so the adults could all sit and drink.

Anyway I didn't know there would be a dunk tank, and I was there in jeans and t-shirt and a polo shirt. Probably about half the kids were in swimsuits, and the other half just with shorts and t-shirts in the tank. I thought the dunk tank looked like fun, but decided not to go in since I was in jeans instead of shorts.

After a while though, all the kids started pressuring everyone who didn't go yet to go into the tank, to the point where they'd pick the other kids up and throw them in the tank if they resisted.

Eventually my friends started to give me a hard time about not getting dunked, so I figured I might as well just volunteer and go willingly, since I figured they'd just throw me in anyway.

So I climbed up on the seat and let my friends dunk me a few times. I remember sitting up there on the seat, with my feet dangling in the water, basically thinking something like this:

" I wish I brought a swimsuit.... Wait... this actually feels pretty good. Maybe even better than a swimsuit? "

It was kind of an epiphany for me at the time, since up until then I'm not sure I really cared much or paid attention to swimming in clothes. I always just figured a swimsuit is for swimming, and that was that.

Even when they let me out of the tank, walking around in my soaked shirts and jeans was an awesome feeling. I remember someone said "Oh, they even got you in the dunk tank in your clothes" or something, and I was just like "eh, it's ok."

After that I kept thinking about my time in the dunk tank, and was trying to come up with ways to do that again. Unfortunately you usually don't come across a dunk tank every day, and my family didn't have a pool, so I was kind of limited in my options.

Though maybe a couple weeks after that event, one of my friends invited some of us over to his house to swim in his pool.

I decided to "forget" my swimsuit, and showed up, again, in long jeans and a polo shirt over a t-shirt. When I got to my friend's house and everyone was in the pool, I said oh crap, I forgot my swimsuit.

My friend said that I could borrow one of his if I wanted, but I didn't want to, partly because I wanted to go in with my clothes, and partly because I wasn't thrilled about wearing another guy's swimsuit.

So I said, as casually as I could even though I was really excited, would it be OK if I just jumped in wearing my clothes.

My friend gave me kind of a weird look for a second, but did say that it would be fine. I was kind of nervous about jumping in the water, but made myself do it, and it was totally worth it!

I've been hooked ever since.