SWIMMING LESSONS
The family had just returned from two weeks at their Washington apartment. The capitol had been hot and muggy; both Jack and Sam were delighted to return to their Colorado home which sported a marvelous in-ground pool.
They'd opened the pool just before leaving for Washington. Both parents had watched Jake and Grace's eyes grow big when they saw the pool uncovered and filled with water.
"There's a lake in our backyard, Mommy." Grace exclaimed. "Daddy go fishing?"
"It's not that kind of lake, Grace," Jack replied, looking sheepishly at Sam who'd caught Jack "fishing" in that very "lake" just last week.
"No fish in our lake?" Jake asked. The almost three year old was a little disappointed.
"Not yet, but there will be," his father encouraged. "And they're going to look just like you and your sister and me and mommy."
"We're not fishies, Daddy," Grace said indulgently. (The tone was starting to sound like her mother, Jack thought.)
"Ah, right you are Princess, but you are going to learn to swim like them."
OoOoOo
The next day found four "fishies" in the O'Neill pool, the twins buoyed up by flotation devices and their parents' cautious arms. Within just a few minutes in the pool, Grace, who'd been trying to wiggle out of her dad's arms since she got in the water, looked up at Jack impatiently.
"Me do, Daddy. Me swim, not you! Let go!"
That was all Jake needed to hear to get in the act, squirming out of Sam's arms at the same moment. Before they knew it, their two little "fishies" had pulled away and, still safely wrapped in kiddie flotation devices, were paddling towards each other.
Watching the twins with more than a little trepidation, swimming within inches of their precious ones, Jack looked at his wife and said, "This is just the beginning, isn't it?"
"If you mean, just the beginning of telling us to let go, I'm afraid so, Jack. They're already starting to grow up."