Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Summer 2018 - Darcy addition

Daughter #2 didn't come home immediately after college ended for the year. Instead, she opted to stay at school, sublet an apartment, and finish working through the month of May at the pool where she lifeguards on campus. Sigh. We got her home right before her birthday.

Where she immediately began working at the camp she has been a camp counselor for the past two years. This year she is one of four lifeguards at the pool. Pretty much, she is running things there. It is the school where she grew up and her boss just defers to Darcy since he has no pool experience. She and two other guards are teaching swimming lessons although they aren't certified to do so, yet apparently, no one cares whether that is a factor. The only person annoyed by that is me. Of course.

I reminded her of the times I used to bring her with me to swimming lessons. I usually did this because I needed my student to see the correct way of breathing, or strokes, or some such skill. Darcy, on the other hand, had no interest in helping me and would swim away to play on or with whatever great toys the owners had such as a diving board, raft, slide, etc. I couldn't yell at her since I wasn't home and she took advantage of this, and so I will admit to taking great pleasure in the remembrance of that time.

Me: "Had you paid attention you wouldn't need me to pull you through this nonsense of teaching children without knowing how to teach children."

I pulled out my ancient lesson books and offered them to her sure that she wouldn't crack them. I gave her as much advice as she was willing to soak up, and when she returned from her first lesson I listened to the story. Some days she returned with questions. Other days she returned with stories on how she adapted. I was in awe.

Darcy: "I mean, I remember when you would do that with so and so. I remember you telling kids this. I remember you..."

Whoa. The kid was paying attention even while horsing around. It was a proud moment. Plus, she was actually reading the book! Getting the lingo down! Sharing with the other two teachers!. Talking intelligently to her students' parents! I will tell you, I beamed with pride. This kid, well, she is incredible.

She leaves the house at 7:30 in the morning. She teaches. She lifeguards. She does dismissal. She teaches again. Then she heads off to the gym where she has a routine of leg days, arm days, ab work days, and swimming. She doesn't return home until 6:30 every night where she showers, eats and sleeps. I maybe get an hour of her time and mostly that is listening to the great stories she has to tell. The one thing I have given both of my girls is the gift of gab. Both of them can tell a story that rivals my own and listeners are gripped from the beginning to the end. Well, except for their father.


Tom: "Just cut to the chase."
Tom: "I'm going into the bedroom for a while and when I come back I'll get the meat of the story because it'll still be going on."
Tom: "Let me guess what happens because this is going to take a while and I need to mow the yard."

Darcy doesn't put up with that. She reminds him that she is home for the summer, that he can do things when she is back at school, and she makes him sit for her stories. Or she just doesn't tell him and he wonders later why he doesn't know things. All of it makes for great entertainment for me, the little bit of it that I have now with her.

She makes her lunch every night before bed. She makes her own breakfast. She schedules her own appointments, and she manages to see the boy toy every other weekend or so. She's home, but she's not. She's busy, busy, busy.


We grab her every chance we get to take her to dinner or to the movies, and when she requests things we pretty much give-in. Having another body at home livens up our life even when she isn't around. I'm cherishing every little moment I get with her and making her promise to do things with me like see the movie, Christopher Robin when it comes out in August. Gotta grab her when I can.

An impromptu road trip sprung up at the last minute on the week of no camp and so I will have her alone for four glorious days. We will be traveling! While it isn't our normal summer route, I'm thrilled beyond belief to be back in the saddle of old times. I'm going to hold it, embrace it, and devour every minute before I return her to the last few weeks of summer and then move her back for her second year of college. Such is the summer of 2018.

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