The sun was shining

When the sun is shining I can do anything; no mountain is too high, no trouble too difficult to overcome.

Wilma Rudolph

Saturday afternoon we went to a Neilan family picnic.  (Geri's family)  We always have a nice time with our Neilan family.  They are kind and inclusive.  I'm always struck by how inclusive both sides of Adam's family are to me, the lowly in-law.  Then it occurred to me that maybe they are the normal ones and maybe my extended family is less than inclusive.

Oh.

Anyway.

Besides the good company, it was a glorious day.  A Pacific-Northwest-pull-out-all-the-stops-perfect-July day.  No one does July like the Puget Sound.  You couldn't ask for better.

Adam didn't believe us but Braeden and I swear we saw seals

I made a bonus discovery.  I have the capacity to really stress Braeden out.  It turns out he gets very nervous when I get close to the edge of cliffs overlooking large bodies of water.  Really nervous.  Like grab my arm and pull me away from the edge nervous.

I tried to figure out a way to use this knowledge to my advantage.  (Because when your son is bigger than you and a licensed driver with a bank account, it helps to still maintain a little of the power in the relationship.)  Maybe we need to move to a house on a bluff overlooking the Puget Sound?  I wouldn't mind.

I took a sort of perverse pleasure in stressing Braeden out.  It's like payback for stress he's caused, past, current and future.

Then yesterday afternoon he came home after four hours of swim lessons and three hours of lifeguarding.  He was weary and hungry.  Between bites of food he told me about his first save.  Yesterday afternoon, a little girl was swimming.  She started floundering, then she started panicking.  Then she really started panicking and Braeden called a code blue--which is what you do apparently--then he jumped in the water and rescued her.  He held her flailing arms in his strong ones and told her she was going to be OK.  And she was.

Even though I had nothing to do with it--besides keeping the boy in milk so he can keep his strength up--it humbled me.  I won't tease him anymore by going close to the edge, because if I fell in, he would dive in after me.