I remember the time my mother taught me to dive. One morning in April when the sun had barely begun to warm the water, she brought me to the local YWCA for my very first dive. No one was by the pool at that hour but a sleepy lifeguard and some overly zealous sunbathers.

I put my arms over my ears and bent my knees as mom had taught me that winter. Eyes screwed shut, I concentrated as hard as I could to make my …