Yesterday was a breakthrough day. We were at our town pool, and as has often happened in the past, Noah watched kids jumping off the diving board. This time though, he asked if he could do it too. I said "yes" and Noah walked over and got on line. He climbed the short ladder and walked out to the end of the diving board. He looked down into the pool and said, "It's too high." So I told Noah to climb back down, and he did. But a minute later, he asked if he could go again. "Yes you can," I told him, "but you have to jump off this time." And he did.
What a joyous, wonderful, amazing experience for Noah, and for us. I don't think I'd ever seen true glee, not until I saw it on Noah's face. The pride, the happiness. If they'd been written in words, they would have been bigger than anything earthbound. And once Noah jumped, he just kept going, getting back on line and jumping again and again. Here was this child, who for so long has avoided putting his head in the water, jumping into a pool twelve feet deep, with no option but to go under water, and no way out of the pool other than swimming to a ladder on the side. And I thought the laps Noah's been swimming for an hour at a time this summer were a breakthrough. Noah teaches me, every day, never to measure expectation by limitation.
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