Swimming Lesson
This morning, the boys woke up a little bit earlier and were reminded to get ready for their first swimming lesson. They did their chores, had their breakfast, and donned their swim trunks before 7:15am. We piled into the van with Taylor, who wasn’t having a lesson but went to accompany me, and pulled up to the pool ten minutes to eight. The boys went into the locker room that leads to the pool deck. Taylor and I went around the pool and watched the lesson from the bleachers.
Children started showing up just before eight o’clock. Ty prayed with Kyle next to him at the edge of the pool. “Dear God, please make me and Kyle brave so we don’t drown. Amen.” The children sat on a green bench facing east and were instructed to sit at the edge of the pool when the instructor called their names. She called a few names, and the children did as they were told. She called Kyle’s name but mispronounced his last name, so no one answered. She continued to the next name. “I’m not sleepy. Just the sun’s hurting my eyes!” Kyle got up and sat at the edge. A few names later, Kyle announced that he had “to go pee,” and the instructor pointed the way. He was struggling to get the storage room door open when the instructor called to him, “Kyle! What are you doing?”
“I have to pee.”
“The bathroom is in the locker room.”
Then came the evaluation: Neither Kyle nor Ty could swim from one end of the pool to the other, so the instructor asked them to blow bubbles under water. When the class divided into groups based on swimming skill level, Ty and Kyle were in their own group with the same instructor.
With the help of a blue float board, the boys practiced their kicks with straight arms, and they traveled a few feet in the water that way. Ty was instructed to float in a star shape (with straight arms and legs), head down, and blow bubbles. At first, he was scared, but after the second time, he hid his fear. Kyle also floated in the star shape but was only a little scared.
At the end of the lesson, Ty asked the instructor her name. She said, “Miss Dee.” Both boys thanked her and went to change in the locker room.
