I started off my second day in the wonderful city of Phoenix, Arizona with a quick, morning run. It was only about three miles, yet because of several, deliberating factors (the heat, my fitness, etc), the run seemed much longer. After that, I met up with my family for some breakfast, continental of course. Breakfast ended at around nine thirty and because we did not have to leave for part two of commencement till noon, I was able to fit in some relaxing time at the pool.
When we (my brother, sister, mom and I) arrived, there were only two other people in the area: two older women who were doing their early-morning gossip. I put my stuff on the nearby table and proceeded to head into the hot tub. Although I was only in there for five minutes, it felt soothing on my muscles after my "easy" run. A few minutes later a family consisting of: four daughters, a wife, and a husband, entered the pool area. I can only hope and pray that I do NOT have four children, let alone four daughters. Those parents will have fun during their pubescent years. Just saying.
Shortly after that family arrived, more little kids made their way into the pool area; two little boys equipped with water-wings and life vests. It was pretty interesting to see the interaction between the older boy, Trey (who was five), and the young girls (the eldest was nine years old). They acted as if they were brother and sister, playing around in the water as if they had been friends for years. At this point in time I was laying on a lawn chair trying to get a tan. The suns rays hadn't hit the pool, which meant that the temperature of the pool was "frigid." Nonetheless, I ventured into the pool and soon found myself a pool time buddy.
Trey, one of the little boys with the water-wings, was "swimming" with his mom towards the shallow end of the pool. His little brother, Ethan, was also in the pool, yet quickly left because he was scared. Therefore, Trey was left in the pool, yet still being supervised by his mother. He began swimming towards my sister, who was relaxing on the side of the pool, because she was trying to help him learn how to swim. If one did not know my sister's future career as a teacher, one could easily spot her motherly-instinctiveness towards little kids. I was watching him learn to swim and when he got to me, I gave him some additional pointers.
Trey then proceeded to give me "races" where I would have to swim down to different lengths of the pool. My rewards for those challenges ranged from a few splashes, to a kick or two (mind you, he is five). After doing this for about thirty minutes, I got out of the pool and went to dry myself off. As I sat down, Trey walked over to his area, grabbed a chair, put his right across from me. We then proceeded to play air tic-tac-toe (I won), thumb wars (I won), and the alphabet game. I am shocked at how well developed his vocabulary was. For a five year old, who hasn't even started kindergarten, he was pretty smart. I learned that he was from Chicago, great city.
What made the whole mid-morning fun was how I was interacting with Trey. Its crazy that the most fun I have had over the past few days, has been with this five year old. It's time like those where I missed working with little kids, either elementary or even younger because they always have a simple outlook on the world. They don't worry about the War on Terror, or the terrible economic status that our country is in, their biggest worry is what's going to happen when their shoes become untied because they haven't learned how to tie them yet. It's time like those where being an Elementary teacher would be a great career for me, and while my mind is set on high school, I wouldn't mind giving another stab at the youngsters. Trey's final words to me were, "Bye, see ya later." Will I ever see him again? Probably not. Will I remember him? Absolutely.
