My mom tells the story of how embarrassed she was to take me to swimming lessons. When she tells the story she still gets mad just thinking about it. I was AT LEAST a foot taller than all of the other kids in my swimming lessons class. On the last day of lessons we were "blessed" with the opportunity to jump off of the diving board to a certified lifeguard who was waiting below to catch us. She had a rectangular shaped life preserver thingy that she held onto. We were given the option of wearing a life jacket if that would make us feel more comfortable. Also, if that wasn't enough to make us feel safe, we could have the lifeguard wear a life jacket also. I very distinctly remember standing (remember; at least a foot taller) by all of the other children, with my arms defiantly crossed, as one by one each of them jumped to their certain death. Amazingly they all survived and then it was my turn. I have no idea how long they actually tried to convince me to do it. It seemed like forever. I'm sure it felt even longer to my poor, humiliated mother as she sat on the grassy little hill by all of the other mothers. They tried everything you can imagine to convince me to jump but there was no way I'd do it. NO WAY!!! My parents had paid for swimming lessons and my mom had dutifully taken me to my lessons for weeks and I didn't pass because I wouldn't jump. I can only imagine how upset they were by this. One day Stan took me to the college pool in Dodge City and HE got in the water under the diving board and I jumped to HIM. I trusted HIM to not let me die. And not Just because I knew my mom would kill him if he let me drown, but also because I knew that he loved me and wanted to keep me safe and wouldn't let me die. There was no trust with the little lifeguard chick!
Well, last night the cub scouts met at the indoor pool and passed off the swimming requirements so they can be in a boat without a leader, just with another cub scout, when they go to day camp this weekend. Well, Matthew wanted Zack to go with him so that he would feel more comfortable. They were doing all of their swimming in the 12 ft part of the pool. There was NO WAY he was going to do it. Apparently he held onto the little ladder thing for dear life and no matter how much they coaxed him he wouldn't budge. He especially didn't want anyone to touch him when he was in the water. I totally feel the same way! When they got in the car when I picked them up Zack told me how it all went down and I could tell that he was SO not impressed. I surprised them both by saying, yeah I wouldn't have done it either! What can I say when...he gets it from me! I was a little worried about how Brian would react to this. I was pleasantly surprised when he said good, because he didn't feel comfortable with him being in a boat without a leader anyway. It was especially nice that Zack had to endure all of the embarrassment at the pool instead of us! :)
No comments:
Post a Comment