Little green living things

Yesterday I did a stupid thing. I listened to that little voice, the one that says "take off your shoes and go swimming in that lake". I stood there in the lake (I use this term loosely) with the water halfway up my chest, my sock feet sinking into the mud. My shoes, belt, and possesions sat lonely on the shore (does a man-made pond/lake have a shore?). It was late afternoon and there were people about, mostly couples enjoying a walk in the park. That had almost deterred me. I really don't know why I felt I needed to be in the lake, I had left the house to go get a haircut. I was feeling very unsure of myself. When I started to wade into the lake I thought I was going to swim across (looking back I don't understand why I chose this moment to learn how to swim), once I got in up to my chest however, this seemed like less of a good Idea. I think the hundreds of little green living things that had befriended my clothing turned me off. At first I thought they were just little pieces of sea weed (the pond-lake was thick with the stuff), until I touched one and saw it curl up into a little ball and swim away. I paused for a moment, then decided to turn around and walk home. I left little sock-feet footprints on the pavement the whole way back. I'm still not sure what that was all about.