Here he is, the fantastic Mr. Bryan! We SO missed him last summer. It really wasn't the same without him.
His wife was battling brain cancer all summer. He was commuting back and forth between MD Anderson on weekends, and when we heard this was happening we decided to sign up Gabriel at Emler in case Mr. Bryan just couldn't keep teaching. The weekend before Gabriel's session in August, Mr. Bryan called Jav to tell us he had to cancel, they had just placed his wife in hospice care. We were sad on so many levels. Mr. Bryan is one of the nicest people on earth, and knowing he was losing his 50-year-old wife was just heartbreaking. But since I am a mom, my heart also broke for Gabriel, who looks forward to his two weeks there probably more than anything else the whole summer.
Gabriel had lackluster teachers at Emler last year. He stayed at the same level, or maybe even a little behind where he had ended up the summer before. They didn't seem to want to push him to do anything, and he was afraid to even jump in the water from the side without help.
The FIRST day back at Mr. Bryan's, Gabriel jumped off the diving board and swam halfway across the pool. Wowsa! Mr. Bryan just inspires his students to have confidence like no other person can. All Gabriel had to do was know he was back in that backyard and it came back. But I was concerned when we arrived that first day, because there was a FOR SALE sign in Mr. Bryan's yard. We found out the second week that he is looking for something, with a pool, in Central Arlington (even closer to us - yay!), and will be teaching next year.
Gabriel's classmate for this year was Brady, who is almost a year younger, a strong swimmer already, but totally lacked confidence in himself. He had a hard time the entire first week, but then finally started to enjoy himself towards the end of the session. Gabriel did well all the way through. He's going across the pool by himself, but having trouble with doing big enough circles with him arms (they aren't propelling him forward), and needs to work on form. But I am so proud of him for jumping off that diving board and trying so hard.
This was Joel's first time at Mr. Bryan's, and I knew it would go well. He did great last year at Emler, and was being pulled under the water for 10 seconds each time. He still talks about his teacher from last year. This year, Joel was never scared, he put his face in easily and discovered the joy of floating in water. His classmate was Callie, who turned out to be the sister of Gabriel's classmate from summer before last, Nathan. So it turns out Callie and Joel spent two weeks together waiting for their brothers to finish swim lessons summer before last. Callie cried the first week, then something kicked in and she started having fun. Which helped Joel have even more fun.
It was hard for Joel to wait his turn for his lesson. He wanted to be in the pool!!! Mr. Bryan told me that Joel was doing so well it was going to be hard for me to keep him above the water. And to be sure a wear a t-shirt because he expects to grab onto me when he runs out of breath every time.
My little fishies!
(To be continued)
