LIFE AT OUR HOUSE: Kakki Time

Over the 4th of July week-end, we went to visit the kids in Tupelo. One of the highlights of the visit was going to see William and Wes take swimming lessons. This was a special time for me and one that brought back good memories.

When I was in high school, I worked as a lifeguard and swimming instructor for the city recreation department in Tupelo. (Some of you may not know that I was raised in Tupelo and graduated from Tupelo High School in 1969.) I lifeguarded at the kiddie pool the summer after my 9th grade year after I earned my junior lifesaving certificate, and the summer after my 10th and 11th grade years, I lifeguarded at the city pool after I got my senior life saving certificate. After I graduated from high school, I got my WIS (Water Safety Instructor) certification and thus began my life as a swimming instructor. I continued to lifeguard in the afternoon and evening after teaching lessons in the morning through graduate school. I taught at the old WPA pool by the old high school track and field in Tupelo that has since been filled in, then at the city pool, and then in Cleveland at the CRA. To say that I taught hundreds of kids and adults would be an understatement. I loved swimming as a kid and could not have had a better summer job.

William and Wes take lessons at the city pool where I taught and lifeguarded. The place is still the same with some remodeling, and the smells of clohrine and and the touch of hot concrete are for sure still the same. As I watched the boys, memories flooded by brain. I remember grandparents coming to watch on the final day as their grand kids took and, for the most part, passed their swimming tests. Now, I am one of those grandparents, and I understand that pride that just takes over the heart and makes it want to burst. I had such a good time at that pool and made some close friends, one of who is still a close friend to this day and one of the Lalis.

There is the most wonderful program in Tupelo called Survival Swimming. It teaches "little people" as Laura calls them to be able to survive in the pool, whether swimming for fun or in case of an accident. William has become quite the swimmer for a 2 1/2 year old. Wes is still in the beginning stages but is doing well with learning to float.

One afternoon we went to the pool of a friend of Chase and Laura's. William strutted his stuff while Wes and I watched.

No need to get in the sun if we don't have to.