Top Ten Moments of 2013… # 9

Favorite moment #9

Ok.  These may not be in order of most favorite because if so, this would probably be in the contender for the top 3 but I'm in the mood to blog about it today. So…. there you go. It gets to be #9. 

These are actually two moments morphed together.

The preparation and the big reveal.

For me, the preparation was even more epic than the reveal.

You see, my mom is scared to death of water. Even though we were always around water..we had a pool growing up, my dad had a boat and loved to fish, we lived near water…..but my mom was always deathly afraid of the water. 

Why? Because she never learned how to swim. 

My entire childhood she never swam. 

She only floated on a raft.

 In the shallow end. 

And no one dared get her hair wet. 

That was a major no no.  

And she never…and I mean never..went into the deep end of the pool.

So we all pretty much knew she didn't swim and never would and that was that.

Boy,  were we wrong.

After all these years, she decides at the age of 69 that she was going to learn how to swim.

So she buys herself some swimming lessons they were auctioning of at a church fundraiser and was gonna go without telling anyone and surprise us all by jumping into the deep end of the pool at our annual memorial day get together. 

That's my momma….she has a flair for grandeur.  And I love it.

Then I surprise her by telling her I'm coming to stay with her a few days last February and she had to spill the beans because her lessons were already scheduled the week I would be there.

SO… to my delight, I got to attend two of the lessons.

  The day we went was freezing. I mean literally freezing…they were closing roads and bridges and stuff like that.  But she was determined to still go and I was delighted to be a witness.

That is my momma in the deep end of the pool.

This should be put in the history books or something. It's huge.

 Her teacher, Terry,  was awesome.  She was super firm with her but still gentle.

 To see her let go of the side and swim in water above her head was incredible for me. 

I would have never believed it had I not been there.

I mean this is a woman who will drown you at the beach trying to stay above water if she accidentally falls off her float.  She will climb on top of your head to get out of the water.

And yet here she is.

 Swimming in the deep end.

With her hair wet.

To see her JUMP IN the deep end….

…was possibly the highlight of the year for me.

This face.  

So proud of herself for kicking one of her greatest fears in the gut.

I'm so thankful God worked it out so that I could share in this moment with her.

So that was the preparation all leading up to the big reveal.

She was planning on doing this at Cow Camp..which is our annual Memorial Day weekend camp out with the family. We ride four wheelers, fish, play games, sleep in one big open room together and of course…..swim!

Momma always just mostly sits on the side of the pool looking all pretty.

But this year she had her a  big surprise.

I was a tiny bit nervous since she hadn't swam since her lessons in February…that she might panic.   But I also knew she was determined and that she was gonna do great.

So it went down like this. 

She gets up and walks over to the deep end.

Looks it over..

And jumps in!

 Just like that!

 She didn't announce it or anything.  Just jumped in and started swimming.

We caught it on video. But I can't get it to upload. I know…so sad. :(

I can't begin to tell y'all how proud I am of her.

This was huge for her. She conquered her fear right before she turned 70 old.

She is my hero. Always has been. Always will be.

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.”

 –Eleanor Roosevelt