People have always welcomed my family to swim at their home. I admit I declined many invites and finally people stopped asking us. It was my own fault. I wasn’t sure how Syd would behave, if she would kick and scream when it was time to leave, or would she share the pool toys? Also, I knew I didn’t want to put on a bathing suit, so we would just not go.
Screw the bathing suit because now I’ve embraced these curves and thick thighs and will wear my bathing suit like Beyoncé.
My children love the water and I was holding us back and I blamed it on autism. Today we went swimming at my friend Jennifer’s house. Syd was so excited and I was ready too.
Syd was ready with her swimming cap, goggles and she jumped right in. She sang, said it was fun, it’s summer vacation and swam like a mermaid, until she saw the slide.
She climbed up like a champ and she’s done it before. When she splashed in the water she went under, but then she came up. She realized her feet were not touching the bottom and she panicked. She was also trying to adjust her goggles at the same time. Jen and I both coached her to swim to the side, but she was frozen. I’m thinking ain’t nobody got time for drowning on day one of summer vacation.
Jennifer jumped in to guide Syd over to me. Jen’s son Dylan was helping Syd too. She was laughing and smiling but she scared the shit of out me and I froze. I’ve battled with seizure activity but today I froze. Syd’s been in the deep end before and has always guided herself through the pool.
Today was a reminder to go over pool rules with Sydney each time before she swims.
When we got home, she wrote on her bucket list went swimming and I have a feeling we will be visiting the pool often this summer. For the first time in our lives living with autism, that’s fine with me.
❤️
~Brooke
A Woman's Work - Brooke Basically Blogging 