Love, bubs and life on our little farm

So today we took the girls to a lovely country town Swimming Baths for a swim. I love country towns - I grew up near one and I just love the peace of a Sunday afternoon with happy families enjoying shady green grass and sparkling water at the local pool.

We were helping the girls to splash around in the toddler pool. For some reason, it was full of sweet little girls who decided I was wonderful and that I needed to "watch them" and were desperate for me to play with them.

One little girl had such a sparkle in her eye and was doing a great job of swimming around with her head down in the water. I was showing Elka and pointing out how well the little girl was doing it. She was a very sweet little girl who chattered away to me and I had noticed her Mum when I arrived, watching her from the side with a proud smile on her face.

Her Mum had watched me take Bronte's special bonnet off and pull out her hearing aids whilst I got her ready to swim. I am used to people watching Bronte with a mix of curiosity and sympathy and a type of relief that it's not their child wearing hearing aids. And so I had an idle thought of "Oh she is probably thinking how glad she is that her girls are fine".....

An hour or so later, I was watching their group celebrate with a birthday cake and I realised that there was a wheelchair there. My mouth nearly dropped when I saw that lovely little girl from the pool be placed in the wheelchair by her Mum, and saw that her (what I am guessing it was) palsy was so bad, that her legs were useless and her arms were stiff and waving uncontrollably. But she still had that beautiful smile on her face.

I got a little teary realising what freedom the water gave her, so much freedom that I hadn't realised that she had any trouble moving around. Although in hindsight, I realise she had never stood up and her swimming had been a little unusual. And I realised that what I had thought her Mum was thinking about Bronte couldnt have been more wrong.

These little kids with their special challenges just continue to humble and teach me. And I was so glad that that little girl had the pool to give her freedom and the choice to move and float where she wanted.