Swimming Pool

When our son was told that he would be traveling to the city to meet his Mommy and Daddy, he had told our coordinator the one thing he wanted to do was to go to the swimming pool. It seemed like such a simple wish for a boy that was coming to the city for the first time. Of all the things he could have wanted to do or the places to see, he wanted to go to the swimming pool.

We did not know about his wish, but as soon as we were at the hotel, this was the one thing he talked about in English. He was searching for it at the hotel and he was sooo excited when he found it. I was so glad that I packed swimsuits for both of the children. The first day, our plans didn't allow for swimming. The next day we had a long drive to the village and due to car trouble, we arrived late. Now, we were scrambling at our village hotel, since we had some activities scheduled for most of the day. Eric was determined that his son would get to swim on this trip. So we decided that after breakfast, it was swimming time.

Then.....we saw the pool. I have seen swamps that are more appealing. There wasn't the familiar smell of chlorine. Eric couldn't see the bottom, so we had no idea how deep the pool was for swimming.I don't know if the other guests of this hotel didn't swim and the pool was not attended to, but they promised to clean it for us. After what seemed like an hour of cleaning, the kids were by the pool excited, ready to go swimming. Our son showed me how he was going to jump in, swim and he motioned a breast stroke that he would do in the water. I had no idea if he knew how to swim or where he had learned to mimic the breast stroke. We were finally told to use one side of the pool while they cleaned the other side. Now, I believe the dirty water can travel to the clean side, but since Eric was willing to go, I wasn't going to stop him. He will get the "Husband of the Year" award from me, just look at that green water in the picture...

It was the sweetest sight. After all the excitement, we saw him become extremely nervous about the water.  Our brave boy was clinging to Eric and hesitant about the feeling of floating. He looked to his Daddy for a confidence boost. Our son was scared to let go, but at the same time his dream of "swimming pool" was coming true. As Eric encouraged him, our son would loosen his grip, allow his legs to float and then he made the swimming motions he had been practicing on dry land. Trust was established, Daddy did not let go of him. 

As we told our coordinator in Ghana about the swimming experience, he shared with us our little boy's wish. I couldn't believe that we almost missed our son's simple wish of "swimming pool". It was such a wonderful bonding experience for Eric and him that I think Daddy would have gone to muddiest, slimiest water to experience it all over again.

<3 jenni