Jul 30 2008
Adventures in Swim Class
“We’re just having one of those days,” I said, trying to corral my two soaked swimmers toward the car, one dragging her feet, the other clearly agitated and not wanting to walk.
“What if I find myself saying that every day?” another mom asked, walking ahead of us. Wouldn’t we all like the answer to that question - neurotypical and special needs moms alike?
She gave a sympathetic tilt of the head when I stopped suddenly, unable to converse any longer because my son screamed frantically all of a sudden. There seemed to be sand scratching his legs beneath his swim trunks, already annoying because of their cold wetness.
Ironic that they were wet at all as the water had been too cold for him to get fully into the lake. That was okay; I wouldn’t have done any better. The running toward the deep water without the rest of his group or his teacher, causing me to do a series of sprints from one end of the beach to the other in some twisted sort of Olympic time trial…not so okay. Mini-meltdown as the teacher tried to help him jump into the deeper (4 feet) water when he stated that he wanted to jump in, insisted that he wanted to jump in….
But the part that made me want to cry was the parent walking with her daughter, making sure to keep a safe distance from my odd family. We’re not contagious and we don’t bite. It was just one of those days. And sometimes we have more of them than other people, but not always. Not yesterday. Hopefully not tomorrow, but if we do, we’ll deal.
Stressful day at swim class.
