Swimming Lessons

*Day 217*

When I was a kid, I thought swimming was playing on the steps and splashing in the shallow end of the pool. And I liked it. But, that was as far as my swimming abilities went. Until my mom decided that we needed swimming lessons. I had to be at least 9 or 10. From the beginning I don't think we were fond of the idea. We thought we knew how to swim just fine. I didn't know how little I knew. Here is the story of our first day of swim lessons.

We got to the pool, and we were a little nervous because we'd never really swam before. I didn't know the first thing about how to keep myself up in the water. Sherry was in one class and me and Renae were in the same class. Me and Renae went with our class and got in the pool. In pretty deep water. I don't think I could touch. So, we were clinging to the edge of the pool. Then, our teachers said to start out, I want you to swim across the pool. I just froze. I didn't know what to do. I knew I couldn't do that. But, I was also a very shy kid, and I didn't know what to say either. Thank goodness Renae was there. She took care of it. She started to cry. When the teacher asked what was wrong, I told them that we couldn't swim. So, they told us that we should be in another class and swam us across the pool to a different teacher. I was so glad to have Renae there that day.

Lessons went OK. We learned to keep ourselves afloat. But, we didn't want to do it again. At the end of the year they gave us little cards to tell us what class we should be in the next year. We didn't want to take swim lessons again, so we hid the cards from our mom thinking that if she couldn't find them we wouldn't have to take lessons again. We didn't have lessons again. But, I'm not sure it had anything to do with us hiding those cards.

In college I had to take a swim class. (One of the requirements for a Physical Education major.) I was still scared. I knew the teacher was a die hard swimmer. So, naturally, I put it off as long as I could. I was still nervous on the first day, but I didn't have Renae there to cry for me, so I had to suck it up. It wasn't that bad. She started like we were beginners. I learned all the different strokes. Some I could do, and some I couldn't. I'm still not good at diving. I just don't like going head first into the water. But, I am a more confident swimmer now.

I don't want Logan to be as scared of the water as I was, so I have tortured him with swim lessons. His first year he wasn't a big fan. He didn't like his face in the water. (That sounds familiar.) But last year he was a lot more confident and excited to be in the water. We'll see how he does this year.


He's the one in the white shirt. He is such a modest boy. Doesn't like his shirt off even to swim. Just don't tell him white is see through when it's wet.