When I was about seven or so my parents went on a real trip. I think it was the only time they left us for more than a few days with someone – they left us for three weeks. Hey headed to Canada for a well-deserved romantic boating adventure while we were left to explore the majesty of Idaho at my grandpa’s farm.

My grandpa has a dock on the lake that has been there forever. In the past, during their early days, my grandma used to take the muck out of the weeds and my grandpa would regularly mow the mill-foil down so it might tickle our toes, but only if you went deep. So we would skim the surface until we got out deep enough to be free of the weeds. However, time marches on and the weeds came with the waning of my grandparents energy for keeping up with a lake visited less and less often by swimming grandchildren.

I looked at Bradley on this trip as we were floating among the lillypads, joking around and telling Jude not to mind the weeds. I laughed that at home I would never swim this lake, if it were not for the fact that this lake is such a part of my heritage I would turn my nose up at the flora and fauna swimming among its ridiculously warm water.

When I was around seven or so, when my parents left on that grand, Canadian adventure, they left us in the hands of my grandparents. My mom drove us over, spent one night visiting and living us, then she was gone. For three weeks. It was a long time. I arrived at the farm as a tadpole- a kid who still hung onto the side of the public pool as I really had nothing more than basic skills as a swimmer. On that first day with my mom gone, my grandpa ushered us down to the lake. It was just the three of us, my older brothers and me. They dove in, both proficient swimmers, while I eased into the lake and clung to the dock, the weeds tickling my feet. My brothers teased that if I were able to swim I could swim deeper, where the weeds didn’t grow. I was courageous, and by the end of the three weeks not only could I swim, but I could do backflips, dives, somersaults and I had no fear. I’ll never forget my mom’s face when I showed her how well I could back dive, she left a tadpole and came back to find an otter!

On this trip Gigi conquered her fear of the weeds. She was often found among the lillypads picking the lush blossoms for her Mimi. She also swam in the deep waters of a lake without a life jacket for the first time ever. She would shimmy up onto the dock and would dive, without a life jacket, into the water over and over! Her confidence was amazing! She reveled in her new confidence, splashing around like a little seal every time we swam.

For his part, Jude just enjoyed the freedom of being cut loose in the lake. He would start out in a floatie and before long he would ease into the lake and start this little herky jerky locomotion move. Over time he discovered how to cup his hands and kick his feet more efficiently, enough so when we went to a shallow beach he tried out his moves and found himself beginning to dog paddle. When we first started swimming the weeds really disgusted him. He could make it out to the middle, past the weeds, but the return trip through the weeds, when he was tired, cold or hungry, would get to him and he would flip out until we came and got him. By the time the end of our trip came, though, he was over it and realized those weeds were only doing what he was: growing and swimming! It was a proud moment to see my kids learning to swim through self discovery in my family lake.

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