Wonder Lake woman enjoys outdoor autumn swims
By CRYSTAL LINDELL - clindell@nwherald.com
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| Stefanija Jensen swims in the Nippersink Creek behind her home Wednesday in Wonder Lake. Jensen originally from Lithuania has been swimming in cold water for years and says she loves to start her day with a swim no matter what season. She stops swimming in the creek when it freezes over. (Nick Dentamaro – ndentamaro@nwherald.com) |
WONDER LAKE – Although Stefanija Jensen swears by her morning ritual, it’s not the kind of thing she tends to bring up in conversation.
The Lithuania native just doesn’t think mainstream Americans would understand why she starts most days with a nude swim in the creek near her home, even when the water is near freezing.
“I’m from a different country, and [if] I tell them that, there will be questions,” she said.
“If there’s fisher guys, I put on a suit. [Usually] there is nobody here.”
The Wonder Lake resident takes a dip at 7 a.m. nearly every morning, no matter the weather.
“If I don’t do it, I feel like I’m missing something,” said Jensen, 58. “[Afterward] your brain is bright. You are happy.”
Her swimming site of choice is a 3-foot-deep section of Nippersink Creek that butts up to her backyard, but the ritual started in the Baltic Sea more than 20 years ago.
At the time, she was at a school in her home country. Jensen and her classmates would dive in the water each morning to start the day.
There have been periods, such as her time in Chicago after she came to the United States about eight years ago, when she couldn’t be as consistent. But Jensen found a way to get her fix – a polar bear club made up of her fellow Lithuanians.
“I’m very happy [now],” Jensen said. “And I live on a creek, and I can do it every morning.”
Even in the chilliest water, Jensen said, she never gets a runny nose, much less catches a cold – something she credits to a mind-over-matter attitude and multivitamins.
Although the cold doesn’t seem to bother her, she does admit defeat when the creek starts to freeze – usually between late November and early March – because slabs of ice cut into her skin.
That’s still a few weeks away though, so Wednesday – sporting a one-piece turquoise bathing suit for the newspaper staff’s benefit – she prepared to jump in.
Her husband, Richard, noted the 40-degree weather and calm water.
“It’s kind of nice out this morning,” he said, adding that he has yet to join his wife in her ritual.
Stefanija Jensen carefully stepped into the creek just after sunrise and calmly did the breast stroke for a little more than five minutes – just long enough to enjoy the experience before her bones started to ache.
“It makes you cold watching her,” said her husband, who is 64.
Afterward, Jensen’s skin was reddish and her hands felt as cold as the water.
“When I’m coming back [out], I always like to touch Richy and kiss him,” she said as she walked over to hug her husband. Then she went inside, grabbed a towel, and started some coffee along with her day.
“It’s nice today,” Jensen said. “Every morning is different.”
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