P. is taking a group of GS to FL to learn to scuba and experience diving in the Gulf. A big deal for some of the teens who have signed on to go the last week in July. Some have probably never been that far away from home, or swimming in open water. And a big responsibility for the adults/chaperones who will be charged with safely returning them to their families. They will stay at a scout camp near DeFuniak Springs, down in the panhandle and go to Destin for instruction before taking to the warm clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
There was one young girl who has sort of questionable swimming skills, and has some other issues that might be problematic. So P. asked her to meet at a pool for some personalized beginning lessons, just to be sure there would not be any major difficulties after they spend an entire day driving to the Florida coast. P. had asked a well-experienced former diving instructor to meet us at the pool, to bring equipment and walk this fourteen year old through the basics of using the underwater breathing apparatus. Along with all the other accouterments (weight belt, mask, flippers, etc.) she would encounter when they start lessons later this month. I think it was a good experience, and the highly distractible youngster did as well as anyone could expect under the circumstances: kids splashing and yelling, teens horse-playing in the pool, fireworks going off in the neighborhood.
They spent a couple of hours in the water, demonstrating and practicing the basics of Scuba diving, hopefully giving the girl some confidence and skills, as well as assuring P. that she has the desire and ability to follow instructions and safety rules. Then we had pizza. Making me remember how I would take daughters to the pool, and they would work up remarkable appetites swimming for hours. And reminding P. of how good a peanut butter and jelly sandwich can be after all the calorie burning 'work' of splashing about, playing Marco Polo, swimming in the hot summer sun.
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