of the sea

i am a pisces- the fish.  not to be all new age on anyone, but i have always found that i feel very true to my sign.  at home in the sea.  i am pulled by the water (and sun) it has always been a natural home to me.  when i was 7 i trotted alone to the local pool every morning for swim team. in the pool before most even had a shower, then there for the whole day and home for dinner (sometimes) that was my routine, every summer from then on. my mom likes to tell it that a lifeguard and coach from the team came and asked her to let me be on team, she laughed. being a fulltime working mom she had no idea i could even swim a length, let alone race. so she followed me to the pool to see if i really COULD do it, well the rest is history. i lived and breathed swimming. it came naturally.  i don't remember a time not loving the water or feeling comfortable in it.  i have very little early childhood memories, but this i remember, the smell of the chlorine, the icy water in the early morning hours, my hair feeling like straw, feeling strong and fast, how my lungs almost ached at night from the hours upon hours of swimming, the soles of my feet(mostly my toes) worn raw from the rough concrete surface of the pool.  i just loved it all.  then in my teens moving to NJ and having the beach, no swim teams there, but summer months on the boardwalk and in the ocean, now smelling of salt and coconut lotion rather than chlorine, but still at home in the water, just a much bigger body of water.  now having kids of my own i so hoped that they too would love the water, any water.  my eldest is a good swimmer and loves the water, but last year kellen was afraid, timid, content to dig in the sand, not be coaxed anywhere near that water!  "no fanks" he would say head down into his internal world.  i feared this would just be him.  and i would just have to get over it.  i wasn't going to push, that would only scare him off more.  now just 1 year later, the summer i had dreamed of came.  not sure what changed but something sure did!  he now runs full speed at the water, jumping waves, very cold waves i might add, splashing, laughing, no longer "no fanks" but "come on momma! watch me! jump momma!"  even at night when all we intend for is a walk, he strips naked or runs in with his clothes on, no way is he just coming for a walk,  no way.  this has been the summer of the sea for him.  
 

this is the summer he showed no fear.
this is the summer i can't get him out of the water.
this is the summer he dreams of pirates and mermaids.
this is the summer he finds so many treasures his buckets overflow.
this is the summer he made a drippy castle.
this is the summer I have dreamed of...