July 31, 2022 – Dandelion Fuzz

“Summer will end soon enough, and childhood will as well.”
george r. r. martin

When my kids were younger, this was the time of summer when it felt like we were hitting our summer stride. We always took our family vacation in June, the week after school let out. That left the rest of June through to the third week of August for swim lessons and summer fun.

I guess I should mention I’m not an outside water lover when it comes to hot sunny days. I’m paler than a white sheet and I burn way too easily. Placing me in a body of water with the sun’s reflection added in is a disaster for me. Mix in wearing glasses or even contacts and water really is not my friend. For years I couldn’t see without my glasses and I even managed to have contact issues.

I spent years sitting beside pools in various locations while my kids took swim lessons. Not being a strong swimmer myself, I was determined to give my kids the confidence in water that I lacked. My friends and I would sign our kids up for the same time slots so we could enjoy some “free” time together outside of park playdates. Over the years this progressed to day at the local water park with us moms sitting in the shallow end of the pool to keep cool while our kids spent hours splashing each other and climbing the ladder to stand in line forever before they could fly down the water slide. Being old enough to do this alone gave the moms freedom. I like to think we earned it!

And wouldn’t you know- those swim lessons paid off. My middle child, who couldn’t dive, joined the swim team in high school and was swimming varsity before junior year. They were team captain senior year. I had four more years of being poolside but this time cheering on the team with different mom friends.

My oldest son who works in EMS earned water rescue certification. In all honesty I try not to think about what this means. I watched one of his training sessions and it was sobering to envision him in a rescue mission underwater.

These days are spent more often than not with Beej and the pups running around the yard, through the small pool and him standing in the middle of the splash pad trying to encourage the dogs to join him.

I hate to break it to him but they seem to have more fun on their own.