Swimming No More

Walking back to the car from after school care, I was surprised by daughter's reaction was so calm. Maybe it was moderated by the freshly baked muffin that was warming her hand. She had just heard the news that the week of school swimming was no longer going ahead because of the corona virus. And she seemed kind of cool with it.

This was not the reaction I was expecting. On Monday she was literally skipping to school, telling me how this is the best week of the whole year. I thought I'd see some disappointment at least. I mean, I'd seen much worse reactions from adults finding out that a concert was cancelled three months from now.

At 8pm her reaction was not so calm. The reality hit in a flood of emotions that can only be experienced by a small child who is too late going to bed. "I hate the corona virus" "this isn't fair" "what if there's no more swimming ever?" "what if it goes all year?" "this sucks".

Yes, it does suck. Uncertainty is not easy to deal with for anybody. We can't do anything about it, and that's hard. We need to adjust to a new reality, and that's hard too. It's ok to feel pissed off about this every now and then. It's an important part of getting through it. And we will get through it.