A Fish in the Water

Every summer some of the Fish Sticks take swimming lessons from Mrs. Trish down the street. Mrs. Trish is known in these parts as the Swim Nazi. Her "cut and dry" approach to swimming has earned her that name. It doesn't matter how hard they scream and kick, there's no lovey-dovey response from Mrs. Trish. She typically uses reverse psychology and says as they are screaming to get out, "It's not your turn."

Caleb was probably the mildest of the Fish Sticks to adjust to the water. All 3 girls, plus their cousins, had a difficult adjustment to learning to swim. I specifically remember Mrs. Trish telling Ruth calmly, "You are hurting my ears!".

Josiah's turn came this past week. He whimpered the entire first lesson and kept saying "I want my Mommy." Mrs. Trish just reminded him calmly, "Josiah, it's not your turn." Day 2 showed a bit of hesitation to join his class but no more tears. Day 3 he was jumping off the side and swimming to Mrs. Trish. She even got a good bye kiss on the cheek from my Little Guy. Day 7 is shown below.





To us, Mrs. Trish helps us live up to our name. All of my kids love her. I love her because in 7- 45 minute lessons, she has my Fishes swimming. I think she's a miracle worker! She's been teaching swimming for over 20 years and she knows her stuff.




Five down, one more to go. Mrs. Trish named Josiah the "Softest crier of the Fish Sticks." Not too bad.