I love my coaching job. sure, it's up and down, and sometimes i want to jump in the pool myself just to get some sort of feeling of calm, but when my little seven and eight year olds master a figure and then give me a big wet hug as they get out of the pool, all those other hours of practices where i am getting splashed, losing my voice and getting frustrated at the lack of progress are so worth it. It's been a huge transition from abandoning my attachment for the last team I coached and letting this new one become part of my life, and a learning process. There's this one little girl, Kira, who shows up to each and every practice with her black cap and blue wetsuit and a gigantic smile on her face. She's so happy and excited to be at practice. She's the slowest swimmer in the group and so I walk with her along the side of the pool so she doesn't feel alone. every once in awhile, she'll stop and cling on to the side of the pool and flash a huge smile and say, "hello!" and then give me some random fact she learned that week in school like, "did you know the pool has less gravity than land?" or "did you know that the world is made up of 70% water?"
when I have kids, i want them to be like her.
in other news, James and i went to Arizona this past weekend to visit some friends.
view from the top of south mountain, phoenix is below.
we spent all of Sunday eating and lounging in the pool with our sweet dollar store water guns, noodles and killer whales
also from the dollar tree: glow bracelets/necklaces.
cheap entertainment :)
