from the very beginning

part 5

My new life with the Godfrey family was nothing short of amazing and I very quickly settled in like I had always been a part of the family.

When I was 6 months old my Mom took me for swimmig lessons rather what they call "drown proofing a baby/infant," this is done to teach the baby how to breathe uderwater. My Mom felt that this was 100% necessary as we had a swimming pool at home and when she was a little girl her younger brother drowned.

Make no mistake "drown proofing'" your 6 month old baby is no walk in the park. The Mother blows air directly into the babies face so they will take a eep breath in and then they get pushed under the water to learn how to breathe. As you can imagine this must be very traumatic for the Mothers.

I on the other hand very quickly learned to love the water and I learned to swim before I learned to walk. I loved spending alot of my time in the water with my brothers especially. The swimming pool was a wonderful family bonding activity. I remember spending hours in the water and as I got older I loved spending most of my time under the water. I would see how many lengths I could do in the pool under the water. I would swim so long that my eyes would go blurry from the chlorine and my fingertips would be all wrinkly from being in the water so long. I would also float on top of the water like a star for ages. To this very day I still absolutely love the water and being in the water. I find it difficult getting out of the water. The water is my safe place and it makes me feel completely free. This is probably why my absolute favourite animal is the dolphin because besides being such beautiful amimals they are such free spirits in the water and I can most definitely relate the that.

I remember as I got older when my brothers had friends over and they swam, they would put a step ladder by the deep end of the pool and climb to the top of the ladder and jump into the pool. I wanted to be a part of the action too, so my brothers would get me to climb to the top of the step ladder and jump into the deep end of the pool. (I did this with absolutely no hesitation at all and I was only around 4 or 5 years old at the time.) I was 'oh so proud of myself for doing this as all my brother's friends clapped and cheered me on.' This made me feel like 'one of the guys' and not the 'little sister.'

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Mom and I at swimming lessons.

Mom, Brent and Craig all keeping watch as im still getting used this water story.

Craig and I loving the water. Craig looking after me so nicely.

Craig holding me as I swim around the pool. I love my big brother.

I'm FLYING! so I thought. Luckily Craig was there to catch me.