Different Strokes

Dear Sage,

You and Sabine spent the whole of sunday mid-morning, noon and evening swimming in all the 5 pools there. By evening, while wearing a pair of inflatable floaters in her arms, Sabine has learned to navigate herself, on her own using her legs to propel her forward, sideways and if necessary, to make a 180 degree turn when she reached the end of the pool. No mean feat considering she's just 2 years old.

You were able to swim across the pool (5 feet deep) by alternately dog paddling and diving forward when your arms become weary. Whenever anybody asked you who taught you how to swim, your standard answer was "NOBODY." You are right. I did not teach you how, you just saw me do it once or twice. And your Mom, to her shame, doesn't even know how to swim even though she grew up a mere 3 blocks away from the sea.

Later on you told me that you know how to "duck paddle." I was puzzled. Then you showed me. You were dog paddling then made the sound "quack quack!, quack quack!" then after that you added to your repertoire half a dozen other strokes: frog paddle, cat paddle, cow paddle, horse paddle, frog paddle even dinosaur paddle.



Bunkmates: Sage, Cousin Andre, and Sabine.

You are so gutsy. When most adults in the pool did not even want to slide down the pool, you walked up the stairs nonchalantly and made a splash as you slide down the slippery ride. You made the trip to the top of the slide about a hundred times. I lost count. But please remember: you should not only be brave but careful too.