The "Polar Bare Plunge" Story

It was an ordinary day. Just finished talking with my daughter-in-law, Barb, about a photo that I had found among the rest of the family photos. Picture of her and our oldest son, Derek, before they were married along with a few of Derek's friends and ...... yep, that looks like Etta, Barb's mother. And after examining the photo some more, it looks like they have bathing suits on. I see a big smile cross Barb's face as she looks at the photo. Date on the bottom of the photo is 01/01/02. Barb told me, "That's our New Year's Day polar bear swim at Myerstown Quarry. It was the year before we got married. It was the first time that I joined Derek and his friends for the annual dip on New Year's Day. We had such a good time. It was very cold and a little snowy that day, but the sun finally came out. Lots of people gathered. We all arrived with out bathing suits under our colthes and close to noon we all removed our clothes, stood on our towels in our suits, and at noon someone blew a horn and we all ran for the water. We were supposed to swim to the wooden platform that was about 50 feet out in the quarry. There were so many peoplethat you couldn't swim, just wade out to the platform. Water was up to your chest." She then started to laugh again and continued the story. "After we got out of the water everyone grabbed their towel since it was freezing cold. If you notice my mom is in the picture. She decided she was going to try it with me. Well, we all were drying off when Jimmy D. said to Derek, 'Dude, I just saw your future mother-in-law's rack.'" Seems that Barb's mom, Etta, was sooooo cold that as she was drying off her top fell down and she didn't even notice it. She must have heard Jimmy yelling to Derek and looked at herself and realized that her "rack" really was exposed. Quickly pulled her top up as the photo was being taken. Evidently made for a good laugh for everyone and Etta, being a good sport, laughed with them. After the plunge they made hot dogs, burgers and had a great time eating and drinking while they regained their body temperature. Barb told me it was the last time they attended the event, but definitely will never forget the excitement it created that New Year's Day. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - photo shows Johnny, Jimmy and Derek in the back left with Etta and Barb (in sunglasses) in the front. Looks like Etta is still trying to get her top back on.