Rachel the Swimming Superstar

While I was at work tonight, Drew took Rachel to her swim lesson. He had this to report:

On the way to her lesson, Rachel said, "Dada. You know what I want to do?"
Drew said, "What?"
"I want to try jumping into the pool without Taylor catching me and then just starting to swim."

Drew was kind of surprised and said, "Uh, okay, I think you should talk to Taylor about that to see if you're ready and if there's anything you need to do, but, okay, go ahead."

So after they got there, Rachel went over to the pool and told Taylor, her teacher, what she wanted to do. Taylor was a little surprised but said, "Okay, if you want to."

They did a couple of warmup exercises, and then Rachel stood at the edge of the pool, and girded herself, and jumped forward, hit the water and immediately started paddling. She did it a couple of times, telling Taylor, "Back up! I don't want to hit your head!"

Afterward, when Drew was toweling her off, he told her how impressed he was. And she said, "I was a little scared at first, but I told myself, 'C'mon, Rachel, you can do it!' And then I just jumped. And it was SO fun!'"

I, too, am mighty impressed. It says so much about her character that she convinced herself to try something new, and then plunged in and did it. It bodes well for the approach to life that I've always wanted a child of mine to have.