Just Keep Swimming

I remember the colour of the pool that day when I watched you stand in the shallow end, fall forward, kick your legs and swing your arms as you swam through the cobalt blue water toward the ladder in the deep end. The sun glinted off the ripples you made as your body moved awkwardly, but successfully to keep you afloat and move forward. The air tasted thick with heat. The green backdrop of our yard and the surrounding trees that hugged our pool area in a protective, supportive way was fuzzy because my eyes were hyper-focused on you. 

This was the moment we’d all been waiting for. You’d been working so hard and your bravery and determination would now shine through. Your giggling laugh risked the possibility of you taking on water as you swam beside your brother whose encouraging shouts kept you moving. And when you finally reached the ladder how many times did you climb up and return to the shallow end splashing back in with an abandonment that sent water all over the slate grey deck? Once, twice, and on and on to the fifth and sixth ‘lap’ from shallow to deep waters. 

There was no stopping you now that you knew you could do it. You were a big guy now, just like your brother. The deep end was yours and you had conquered it. And that’s what is so beautiful about you. It takes you longer to learn things and to summon up your courage to try things, but once you’ve got them, you’ve got them! And you do learn. You do accomplish. You do conquer. It’s just all on your own time, and in your own way. When given the opportunity you never fail to amaze us. 

Oh, how you love the water. It frees you and allows you to be in your own world doing your own thing. Presume competence because competent you are. Look at you go!

(click here to see the video or click below)

(video taken Aug. 3, 2014)