Twenty six years ago, I went from hard of hearing to deaf in an instant.  I was water skiing on my bare feet and crossing over the wake when I caught a toe and hit the water sideways.  When I climbed into the boat, I thought I simply had water-stuffed ears; it wasn’t until weeks later that I realized that being deaf was here to stay.

Last fall, my husband sent me a link to the Today Show featuring Judy Myers, a 66-year-old woman who took up barefooting at the age of 53.  Judy competes in tournaments and she can barefoot backwards and on one foot.  Judy inspired me to get on the water again.  In the spring of this year, I flew down to the World Barefoot Center and I went back to barefoot water skiing at the age of 44.  I’ve been having a blast ever since.

Judy introduced me to Joann O’Connor, a 61-year-old barefooter from Wisconsin. Joann was one of the first woman barefooters to compete in the Midwest.  Years ago, Joann was involved in a bad car accident which resulted in a fused ankle, and she thought her barefooting days were over.  In her 50′s, Joann decided to put her feet on the water again and see if her ankle would hold up.  It did.

Joann is a dynamo on the water– I was able to see this first-hand while spending three days with her at her cabin on Lake Lucerne in Crandon.   It was the first time we had met face-to-face, but I felt as if I had known her for years.

“Are you ready to hit the water?” Joann asked mere minutes after I set my suitcase down.

“Heck, yeah!” I said.  Little did I know that I would be out of breath trying to keep up with her.  The 61-year-old looks like a 21-year-old out on the water.  On the first run, she water skied on her feet backwards as I watched in awe.  We spent three days on the water, finishing up with sore feet and happy grins.  On the last day, we went to Footstock, a Figure-8 barefoot tournament where we met up with barefooting legends Peter Fleck and Keith St. Onge– guys who are known for miles and miles of endurance barefooting. 

In the senior division of that tournament, the gray hair was not hard to miss among the older guys lined up for their start.  But once they were out on the water, it was difficult to distinguish who was a senior citizen, as the older crowd skied powerfully round after round.

Folks like Judy and Joann are breaking all the rules and refusing to settle for that I-can’t-do-it-because-I’m-too-old mentality.  They are the role models who show us that age is truly a number and we don’t have to give up the activities that bring us pleasure simply because we are adding up the birthdays.

To Judy and Joann, I want to be just like you when I grow up!