I don’t remember learning how to swim. Honestly, I don’t.

Recently, the Monkey began his journey toward swim master and well it’s been fairly tenuous. Okay, it’s been slightly more frustrating for me but whatever. I have honed patience as a virtue when it comes to this kinda stuff.

Well that is until I sent the Boyfriend and the Monkey to the pool recently, to keep them out of my hair whilst dealing with the recent Flood of 2012 (water heater leaking). In about 30 minutes the Boyfriend had the Monkey happily almost doggy paddling and the most significant…dunking his head under water. Like a Boss.

Stunned I started to think about my own experience. I don’t have a recollection of it at all. I do remember fun times in our above ground pool. My Dad tossing me in the air without effort and then crashing into the water. My summers were filled with awesome and this was just one of the many things I remember. I was two or three the first time we got the pool for summer, but hell if I remember learning to swim. Dang I have a strong remembrance of later going to technique classes and of course the hot lifeguards who taught us how to be safe swimmers and not kill our friends in the water. But anything before that, nope.

With the Monkey I never wanted to push. Never wanted things to be negative. So I figured swim lessons this year would do the trick. Little did I know that Boyfriend had just enough ‘coach’ in him to get the basics started. Now we are a floaty-free family and it feels good. The best part is most definitely that the Monkey has found in the Boyfriend another layer of trust and that makes this Mama squirm with effing delight. And the best part is that so have I.

Being raised in a house of hope and love was something I have always wanted for the Monkey, and while he’s always had it with me and my folks, this is different. If you had told me two years ago that this man would be this role model to my son I would have thought you mad, but today I don’t know what we’d do without him here in our lives. Being a single Mom never ends. Never. But it sure does feel good to have someone on your side.

Life is good, folks.