Pool

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. I’m still in a little shock over what Sean told me and my initial response to it.

Sean took Samantha to a birthday pool party at Home of Joy Orphanage on Sunday evening. I stayed home with Timothy to get a little bit of a Mother’s Day rest. At 7pm I called Sean to find out when they were coming home. He told me that I needed to come pick him up cause Samantha had jumped in the pool in her clothes during dinner. I didn’t even flinch. I just said, ‘Okay, I’ll be there soon.’

When I arrived at Home of Joy, the kids were opening the gifts. That’s when I got the full story.

During dinner, Sean turned his back on her for only a moment to get their food and when he turned around again Samantha had disappeared and he went search for her. He found her in the pool. Alone. The pool that she can barely stand up in (at the time of hearing Sean recount the events, I thought that she couldn’t stand in the pool at all). AND she had swum to the bottom and picked up two coins. At this point I went weak in the knees, and I had to sit down. Within milli-seconds my mind raced through all the horrible disaster scenarios it could conjure up.

I looked across at my happy, laughing Princess playing with my friends and a wave of relief came over me. As a weird dichotomy, at the same time I had this excitement and pride welling up within me. ‘My little girl can swim! My little girl can dive… OH NO! My little girl thinks she can swim! I’m gonna have to keep her away from big pools, if at all possible’. It’s time to keep this kid on a tight leash.

I still don’t know whether to do the dance of joy in celebration of my daughter’s accomplishments, or to weep over the disaster we narrowly averted.