Water Babies

Spending the afternoon at the pool with my favorite little people (well, two of them at least) brought back a flood of memories.

So much of my childhood was spent at our neighborhood pool - weekly summer swim meets (which also meant an introduction to sugary candy and a fear of loud, startling noises, like the Starter's gun), birthday parties (if you were lucky), and when we were the luckiest, days that turned into evenings when my mom would call for us on the main pool phone (am I dating myself?) with the welcome news that she and my dad would be bringing down dinner... to be eaten poolside, probably at adult swim, so we didn't miss a minute of time in the water.

It also reminded me of the less happy memory of the huge hill that we had to bike up in order to return home each evening. The hill that had been all laughs and a strong breeze as I had flown down it with barely a care in the world earlier that morning. And to think... I thought life was hard just because I had to walk my bike up a steep incline?

Seeing these two swim around, with the water splashing across their faces... all received with nothing but laughs... seemed to wash all our cares away. Sure Charlie didn't love being submerged and Caroline's life jacket made it hard for her to swim as much as she'd have liked... but the raw emotion and excitement they both had with each step into the relative unknown was undeniable and I couldn't have been happier to be there... with them, with family.

It's afternoons (and sweet kids) like this that make any amount of work worthwhile. You try and be a grumpy adult with one of these smiles staring back at you.