What a great night. As I posted online late last night, I’m so full of gratitude for the coming together of a year and a half of hopeful work, partnership-building, and sheer stubborn dang-it.

In the beginning, when everyone arrived, there was anxiety on both sides, excitement and fearfulness in equal measure—but once everyone was in the water, teaching and learning, playing and practicing, we all saw and felt the change. Faces and postures relaxed, eyes met and laughed, tentative turned into confident, shyness bloomed into “I can!” Mike’s magical round-robins at the beginning and the end of the session turned a group of strangers into a circle of friends, cheering and clapping for each other and for what we had done.

I have a sister-in-law who wrote, in response to my confession yesterday that I had some butterflies: “Let those butterflies give you wings! You remember the story about the string. How one string isn’t very strong, but when a few are braided together they make a strong rope. Hold onto the rope–it can pull you thru anything.”

That’s us, this team. We did it.

And will continue doing it. Enjoy the pictures, and see you next Wednesday at the pool!

Tracy L Seffers
Registrar Shepherd University