Well, neither of them graduated. Nora is a lot more confident then Henry is. He is still so scared of the water. The picture above is so typical of swim lessons. The brave life guard, deftly trying to talk Henry into jumping in, or dunking under, or floating on his back, or well, you get the picture. All the while, Henry is telling them that he doesn't want to, or trying to sidetrack them with conversation about microbes, or bargaining his way out of it. He truly is scared of it, and I tell him all the time that it is a brave thing that he is doing. Facing fears in all of their variety is so difficult. Its hard though because all that he sees is the three year old jumping in next to him. Nora used this as a catalyst to become a better swimmer than Henry, and I think it worked. Although, she didn't graduate either. I think that might have something to do with going to the beach instead of swimming in a pool. Both Henry and Nora just kind of hang out on the shore line at Comet when we go.
It all doesn't matter of course, they will learn at their own pace and I will consistently push them forward in it. It's important to learn how to swim. It's almost mandatory in New England. I told the kids that we could go out either for lunch or supper in celebration of the end. They of course went for immediate satisfaction and chose lunch. I spent a while trying to think of someplace fun to take them and ended up opting for something a little different. I went to Gardner (yes that is different, but that's not what I meant) and parked the car in the center. I told them that they were going to guide me through the center, we could go in any store they chose, and that they would decide the restaurant that we ate in.
We strolled past an amazing amount of closed down, run down, broken glass store fronts. Gardner has always had it rough, but man... crazy. We wen't in an old hobby store with train tracks and battle scenes set up all over the place. An odd little jewelry/dog treat store that actually looked like it could have resided comfortably in North Hampton. (We bought Chaucer a squeaky rubber duck to chew on... its presently lost somewhere in the house). They passed up on John's sport store, but couldn't get by Priscillas. Such a great candy store... homemade and awesome. They bought salt water taffy... who wouldn't!?
They reserved their decision until the last place that we looped back too, the Gardner Ale House. I actually really liked it there. It was packed! On a Thursday afternoon, packed. It seemed like it had absorbed all that was left of the customers in Gardner. I walked in and there was Brian, my well-dressed (I've never seen him in a tie before) cousin. I guess the restaurant is his client for food sales. He's such a good kid... well, man now I guess. I am glad to see him doing so well. We sat, and I ordered a hummus sandwich. Henry had the kids pasta (because of the bread sticks) and Nora... well... the ubiquitous chicken fingers of course. I was skeptical of the sandwich but was really pleasantly surprised by a nice, fresh, well put together meal. I think I may go back at some point.
db
No comments:
Post a Comment