full swing.

It's been too long--my laptop finally bit the dust--and I haven't been able to go get another one or have it fixed yet. I'm using my family's desktop...but I have to split time with the entire family, so I don't normally have time to do things like write in here. I'm also working probably sixty hour weeks, so that doesn't help either. But along those lines...

I have the best job in the world. I teach swim lessons, which can be one of the most seemingly thankless jobs in the entire world. I had a child burp in my face yesterday (not maliciously), I got smacked at least three times by this same child who doesn't seem to quite understand that "fighting" the water isn't an effective means of swimming, and I have kids jump on me and yell and splash me almost constantly for at least an hour and a half each day four days a week. Swim team coaching is slightly less painful, but I still burn myself to a crisp standing outside the water 4 hours every morning to lose my voice and have kids complain and whine about the sets we give them.

So why would I say that I have the best job(s) in the entire world when all of the above happens on a daily basis? Because I know that I'm doing something that will stick with these kids for the rest of their lives. Learning how to swim can save a little kid's life--if they fall in the pool, they can swim to the side. I also feel like I'm giving a little bit of myself and the joy I've experienced with swimming to them so that they can enjoy it hopefully as much as I have so far. Swim team in the summer is one of my favorite memories of growing up, and I know I'm giving these kids the same memories I had...it's hard to explain how or why it's so rewarding, but it just is.

I'm really exhausted all the time now--my arms and body are sore from having kids jump on me all day, and I have no voice from screaming for my kids during Wednesday's swim meet. I know I'm doing something good with my life, though, and that makes it all better. :)