When the coach of the Middle School swim team approached me at a school event about Caden swimming for the team, I was surprised. Caden? Swim?
I was immediately brought back* to his time in intensive care at Sick Kids, then his recovery time at Bloorview and what I wanted most to do was hyperventalate at the absurdity of the idea. Instead, I simply asked him if he wanted to join the school swim team. He did.
It's about him, not me, so he joined.
It took me until the very last meet of the year to go and watch. Our school has a very small deck and it's hard to take photos. Well, that's the excuse I use :) Caden asked me to attend the last meet of the season at the Etobicoke Olympium. How could I say no?
Caden was entered in three events: 50M Free, 50M Backstroke and 200M Free Medley. I made it out to the pool mid-morning and managed to see him in the 50M Backstroke. I love that every time I ask him how he did in a meet he claims "great, best time yet". He gets it. At this point, the game is not to win the heat but to always beat your personal best. In his 50M Backstroke race he beat his personal best by over 8 seconds. Yay! He came in 43rd place - out of 50 participants
My boy continues to be very angry with me that I have made him stop playing football. He's not pleased he had to give up rugby, either. (It turns out he really didn't like playing hockey, so he was happy mama made him stop. As it turns out, skates hurt - among other things.) We are trying to find a suitable alternative.
That alternative just might be swimming. He likes it way more than hockey and a bit more than rugby. He has even agreed to attend "Performance Swim Camp" this summer in order to get better. Caden's mother is a big believer that if you don't do something well you don't grasp the "fun" in an activity. The better you are at anything the more fun you will have. I encourage Caden's improvement no matter what the activity happens to be.
To be completely honest, I'm just over the moon that we can even experience these arguments and joys and lessons - bring it. I'm so proud of him!
* * * * *
* In 2002, just before Caden turned 3 he almost drown in our pool. His father called me at an event and I rushed to our local hospital to watch the medical staff try to shove a breathing tube down his throat. For an hour. I was then transported, via police car, to Sick Kids hospital in Toronto where Caden remained in a coma, in urgent care, for a week then onto another floor - it's a blur. Upon his discharge, he and I then spent a month, every day, at Bloorview where he went for therapy: occupational, psychological and physical. It was the most traumatic experience of his life. And mine.
