Of course you realize that I’m living vicariously through my daughter. That she’s the one that had the first day of work, not I.

She was a little apprehensive, not knowing anything about the time clock, or check in, or what do you do at the Y when you start work? So I walked in with her and asked those kinds of questions for her. And they answered her, and her shoulders relaxed, and she smiled and answered something intelligible.

And I left my 17 year old daughter at the Y to teach swim lessons. She was on her own for the first class, and she was nervous. The woman that she’d shadowed the first time was there, and she offered to help until her first class came. She said that my daughter did a good job.

She came home talking about children who coughed and choked on water, those who talked too much, and how sweet they all were. There were classroom management issues, which blew me away, considering the classroom. She recognized lifeguards from her orientation–the Y is expanding.

This will be an interesting job.

This brings back memories. My husband and I went scuba diving on our honeymoon. That was one swimming experience I had never wanted; I still don’t like being at the bottom of the deep. We signed up for a scuba trip and had one lesson beforehand. We had to learn how to use the mask and oxygen tank, and couldn’t get the hang of breathing out of my mouth alone. My face was a little too small for the mask to pinch my nose properly, and I had a hard time with it. My husband, on the other hand, picked it up easily and enjoyed himself. He also got the hang of snorkeling, which never clicked for me either.

After our lesson, we went out on a boat with a group of scuba divers and snorkelers. We saw dolphins and tunas diving above water before we anchored the boat so we could explore beneath it. We were only down 10 feet. But it was a whole new world under the sea. The schools of fish were so beautiful. I took a mental snapshot that has lasted these 18 years. And my mask filled up with water, my ears hurt, and I dropped my weight and floated to the surface almost immediately. That was enough scuba diving for me. My husband went deeper with the instructor, used up more of his oxygen, and brought me back a big shell. He got stung by a stingray on the way back to the boat.

Later on during that trip, we snorkeled (I tried), landed on an island for lunch, rode horses, and I played in a natural waterfall. After our scuba diving adventure, I was done scuba diving, and my husband was done swimming for the rest of our honeymoon. He was swimming for me; he didn’t have a lot of skills, and wasn’t really into it. I tried scuba diving for him. I am glad I did.

Maybe I should give it another try?

When I heard the Y pools would be closed for a week before the fall session, I became temporarily insane. I reacted as though they’d be closed forever, taking the little children to open swim right before bed-time the day before the pools closed.

It was just a week. Why was I tripping? I was irrational, and I know that partly had to do with the fact that I’d been out of the pool for a month, and just when I found out I could get back in the water, the pool was going to be closed. It might as well been another month, for all my raging emotions.

Then it clicked for me that, duh, it was only closed a week, when I learned that my daughter had an observation in the pool yesterday. I planned to swim the next morning.

I was in the pool at 7:08 this morning–a little late for me, but it worked out ok.

The fatigue factor was pretty high, since I’m still not all the way back up to my former stamina. I hate how fast that breaks down. I thought I could handle 900 yards again today, so that was my goal.

I had to force myself to swim 50 frees. Ouch. But I felt like I could swim backstroke all day. In the end, I had swum 200 free, and 300 back. My shoulders were feeling it, too. I had also swum 275 breast. That stroke count included a 100 IM. My time, 2:48.76 was about 8 seconds faster than my last IM, so I was pleased. And even though I struggled with my freestyle, I only swam 100 total elementary back, my recovery stroke, so it was a good day in the pool.

I hope to return next week. We’ll see what my body says about that.

My daughter had her swim lesson observation today. She was all nervous, because this time the teacher she shadowed was a dude. He was a middle aged fat dude who really didn’t leave much for her to do.

But sometimes he’d surprise her by saying, “now she’s going to teach you how to jump in!”

And she was all humiliated when she was demonstrating streamline arms when he walked behind her and she bumped into him. She was sure the kids would be laughing about that all week.

She had a furrowed, frowning brow and a toothy smile at the same time. She looked scared. I thought about the pressure of being a swim teacher. You not only had to figure out how to teach new skills, but also keep the children alive in the process.

It’s a big responsibility.

But she can do it. She is the oldest of 6. She has the babysitting experience. She has the babysitting while in the pool experience. She even has the teaching experience. It’s time to do this!

It’s even more exciting watching it again. Talk about fierce competition!

Find more videos like this on Diversity in Aquatics

I love the story of how he became such a passionate swim teacher. Check it out.