Swimming with the Sharks!

It's swim season again . . . which means that from now through July, our family will be spending about 15% of our waking hours poolside at swim practice.

For as long as he's been able to talk, Grant has been talking about being a Shark, being on swim team, and yearning for the day when he could join his big brother and sister in the pool. After taking swim lessons all winter, his swimming skills were strong enough that we decided to give it a try.

Last night was the first practice. As we were loading everything in to the car, Grant said "When I'm a Shark, I'm going to kill everybody!" I looked at him and said "That's not a nice thing to say Grant - we don't kill people." He looked up at me and said "No mom, that just means I'm going to swim faster than everybody else!"

We got to the pool, and when the coaches called, Grant got lined up and ready to go. When Coach Frank told him to jump in and swim his inaugural lap, he did just fine.

The nervous laughter you hear in the background is me. I couldn't believe my baby was swimming. Up until last night, he'd never swam a full 25 meters before, and I wasn't sure if he'd be able to make it. Not only did he make it, he swam nearly half the length of the pool without taking a breath! One of the assistant coaches was walking along the pool deck as he swam, yelling "Take a breath Grant!" I don't know if it was fear, nerves, or pure adrenaline!

For 30 straight minutes, that little body swam back and forth across the pool.

When he climbed out and got wrapped up in his towel, he had a grin from ear to ear.

While he may be the youngest and smallest Shark on the team, his determination is right up there with the big dogs!