A way to go moment...

My oldest daughter has never had an adventurous spirit. I blame myself for that in part. We had her a little later than most couples and I guess I was scared of her getting hurt. So rather than letting her try things on her own and risk getting the bumps and bruises associated with growing up, I coddled her.



Last year, she decided she wanted to try swimming lessons. That first week was probably the roughest week of her young life. She cried everytime she hit the water. She wouldn't dare get her face wet. Well, by the second week, she was diving for rings and sticks and the bottom of the pool. We had finally found that thing she loved.



This summer we started back up at swim lessons. At the beginning of the summer, I started her at a Level I American Red Cross swim class. She had finished last summer at a Level II, but I recognized that she still needed help with the basics. I figured rebuilding that foundation couldn't hurt her. And it did.



Where last year she was fearful of floating on her back, this time she embraced the challenge. I would sit at the side of the pool with her baby sister, and I'd hear my big girl tell the instructors that she wanted to try to the backstroke by herself. When the instructors took the kids over to the deep end of the pool, I saw hesitation before she jumped. I waited for her to start crying about not wanting to do it, but she surprised me. She sucked it up, jumped in and then swam to the side of the pool. Pretty soon, it got easier and easier.



Well, today was the last day of swim lessons for the summer. And it was nice to see that my daughter was genuinely unhappy to see it end. When the teachers handed out the final certificates, she pulled my daughter and two other little girls aside and congratulated them for not only completing the class but getting promoted to the ARC Level III class. The look of shock and amazement on my daughter's face said it all! She was thrilled. She didn't imagine that she'd get that far this summer, but she did. And she can't wait to start lessons again because she wants to learn how to do more advanced strokes.



It was definitely a `way to go' moment and one that I'll never forget as a parent. It's a great feeling when your kids not only surprise you with the things they can accomplish, but they surprise themselves too. I'm so proud of my big girl!!!!