It's the Climb

My 8-year-old is CONSTANTLY asking me, "Are you going to put this on your blog?" every time she or her sister do or say anything. Really. Anything. Well, my sweet girl, YES! I'm putting this on my blog! Warning -- Proud Mommy Moment coming up...

My girl loves to swim. We are fortunate enough to have an inground pool in the backyard which she loves to spend time in. In addition, she has been fortunate enough to have grandparents who have not only sent her to swimming lessons at the yacht club for the past 4(?) years, but a grandpa who has spent many hours driving her there and staying around to wait and watch during her lessons. Along with Grandpa, my husband and I have also gone year after year, lesson after lesson, to watch her progress. We have also, all of us, watched her nearly paralyzing fear when she has been asked to jump off the diving board into the deep end. We have, each of us, experienced her agony, standing there at the end of the diving board, looking down at the water, seeing all of the other kids waiting for her to jump in, seeing the instructors swim in front of the board and hold their hands up, trying to help ease her into the water. We have seen her near tears, backing slowly off the board, insisting that she just can't do it -- it's too high, it's too bouncy, and so on. The past three years we have gone through this -- as a swim lesson is part of her sailing lessons that she takes each summer. She is a very strong swimmer and would probably be at the top of her class, if not for this diving board issue. Because of this, she has been stuck in the same level of swimming for the past 3 summers.

This summer, her grandparents enrolled her in a week-long, all-day sailing course with her cousin, and we were hopeful in the beginning that there would be no swim lesson. We were wrong. With a little help from her doctor, we came to the realization that diving is not something that she was going to do. I myself have gone 20 years (since high school swim class) without having to dive -- we need to pick our battles, and this one is not worth it, we decided. If it came up in swim class again, we would simply talk to the instructors and see if they could just accommodate her somehow.

But tonight, we headed down to the yacht club to have dinner with the family - a special treat for our girl and her cousin - and when my husband and I got there after work, our girl was in the pool and she said that she had a surprise for us. She swam to the side and climbed out of the pool, and she walked over to the diving board and with confidence, she climbed up onto the board -- and then she marched out and she jumped right in! I could not have been more proud of her if she had just won an Olympic medal in diving. I cried right then and there, and frankly, the water works are starting again! That's the really amazing thing about kids -- you can never count them out, because they will always surprise you. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly a sports photographer -- I couldn't click fast enough to get her in mid-air, but I have a feeling I'll have more opportunities in the future!

I am so proud of you, Liv -- I love you!