Day Fifteen: Bird And The Pool

So I haven't actually written in a few days. 

Because I'm a cheater.

But I was at the YMCA today and a father came in with his two little girls. They stayed in the shower area for a good ten minutes because his youngest was afraid of the water, so they were playing in the shower. 

When he and his older daughter got into the water to swim, the youngest sat on the edge wrapped in her towel, just watching because she was too afraid to jump in. After about fifteen minutes, the father and his older daughter finally coaxed her into the water, and she loved it. 

I was a total creeper and watched the whole scenario while I swam my laps. It was an adorable moment, and made me want to write. 

So I did. 

The first time I took Bird swimming I thought I would never get her out of the pool.

But it took a good twenty minutes to first convince her to get into the water.

She was almost six the first time we went to the pool. I had always loved swimming, so I wanted her to know how to handle herself in the water.

I took her into the family changing room to get ready. We had picked out a swimsuit for her the weekend before, she and I. I took her to the store and told her she could pick out any one she wanted.

“Any one, Da?” she asked, her eyes widening.

“Any one, Bird,” I said, picking her up and throwing her up on my shoulders.

We walked around the store for a few minutes before she tapped me on my head.

“Da, da, that one.”

I looked up to see the one she was pointing at.

It was the hideous swimsuit I had ever seen in my life.

The patterns didn’t make sense, and there were a plethora of colours, none of them seeming to match.

But Bird was determined; she wanted that one. So that’s the one we got.

So I helped her into that hideous swimsuit in the family changing room and grabbed our bag full of pool toys and headed into the room.

There weren’t many people in there, just a few swimmers in the lanes doing laps. Bird stood mesmerized for a good five minutes, just watching the swimmers go back and forth, her mouth hanging open as she watched.

“Hey,” I said, nudging her. “We’ve got to shower first, over there, then we can get in. Ready?”

Bird nodded in reply, taking my hand in hers as we walked over to the shower.

She stood under it as I turned the nob, then shrieked and laughed as the cold water sprayed her.

“Da, it’s cooooold,” she yelled, grinning up at me.

“Wait, wait, it’ll get warm,” I chuckled. I kept my hand under the spray until it started to get warmer, then coaxed Bird back under the water.

“All right,” I said after a few minutes, turning the water off and stepping towards the pool. “Are you ready?”

She looked at the water, then back up at me, her eyes wide in terror. “What if the water eats me?”
            “Well,” I began. “What if I hold you the whole time? Then if it tries to eat you, it will have to try to eat me, too.”

She stood on the edge of the pool, just staring at the water, a terrified look on her face.

“Here,” I said, getting into the water. “Why don’t you sit on the edge and put your feet in? I’ll be right here the whole time.”

She sat down on the edge after a few minutes, then put one leg in, keeping the other out. After a few more moments, she slowly put the other leg in. After another ten minutes, she looked at me, the terror having subsided just a little.

“What do you think?” I asked, keeping my hands on her knees. “Want to give it a try?”

She looked down at the water for a few moments, then looked up at me. “I trust you, Da,” she whispered.

“We’ll just try it,” I said, putting both of my hands around her waist. “You don’t like it, we’ll get out right away. Promise.”

She held onto me tightly for about thirty seconds, then suddenly looked at me, a look of pure wonder on her face.

“It’s so light,” she said, grinning. “Can I try it alone, Da?”

We were in the pool for almost two hours that first visit. I had to drag her out with promises and bribes that we would come back the next day.

And every day, for years after that.