Double Take

Almost everyone I know at some point or another has learned to swim. Aspenn and I had an advantage because we had each other. It was so much fun to swim together, and we were even on the swimming team in our hometown together. This activity brought us really close as siblings, and we enjoyed each other's company in the pool.

One of the summers our mother enrolled us into a day-camp. They gave everyone color coded caps. Yellow if you can't really swim, and red if you have proven that you can. Though they didn't care if you had been on the swim team or not, you had to pass the test they gave separately. This test specifically was not only swimming in the shallow end of the pool, you also had to be able to dive to get keys that they would toss in the deep end of the pool.

I was able to pass this test relatively easily. It only took one try, and after all we were on the swim team together. Aspenn was not so lucky, it was hard for her to be able to dive into deep water and be able to go below four feet. 

However, we had both had some severe ear infections as infants. It was so bad that we had to get surgery for tubes to be placed in our ears. This made it possible for us to be able to get our equilibrium back, which made it possible for us to keep our balance and be able to walk. Because of these severe infections, I believe that we had some sort of inner ear damage.

When we dive into deep water, we get terrible pain in our ears. This has nothing to do with our ability to be able to swim, just with our ability to dive. Our mother was really upset when the camp told her that they would not be able to give Aspenn a red swimming cap due to her inability to dive in to get the keys at the deep end of the pool. With her permission though, we were able to fool the camp.

One of the days we were scheduled to go to the pool, I pretended to be Aspenn. It wasn't that hard to fool the camp counselors. None of them have been able to tell us apart without watching us write on paper. Needless to say, I was able to pass the diving part of the test for Aspenn. They then gave me a red cap, which I would give to her at home. 

It felt like a real win for us, we had outsmarted a lot of adults to be able to get this done. I was so proud to have been able to really help my sister. For that summer, we had grown a little closer.