Yesterday was the community outing to beat all community outings (Community Outings are like field trips in Autistic Support. Only they are used as moving teachable lessons, like how to act appropriately in a variety of places such as museums, restaurants, and shopping malls). We went swimming at the middle school.
That's right, folks, it was bathing suit season. In February. With my coworkers. And students. At a pool owned by the school district I work for. Awkward. Even more awkward when you factor in all of the nudity. My students have no shame. They are not embarrassed by their bodies. They know that they are to get undressed and dressed in a locker room, so that's what they do. In front of you. I have never averted my eyes so many times in my life. And it seemed that the only safe place was to look at the ceiling, which really doesn't help when you have to either a) help someone into their swimsuit, b) monitor hands, or c) walk around the locker room without running into anyone or anything. Yikes. (And, of course, a few of the guys ventured from the boys' locker room with a *liiiiiiiiitlle* less than what they should have been wearing. Luckily there were 2 wonderful male staff members of the middle school who took care of that problem) Once all the students and most of the staff were dressed in their bathing finery, it was time for the swimming to begin!
Now as you may have assumed, if you get a substantially large group of women together to go swimming (especially in February when there is a good 3-4 feet of snow on the ground outside), you have a large amount of body issues. The running joke of the day was, "Close your eyes and when you hear the splash of me hitting the water, you can open them again." I wore my "Mom Suit" that I purchased a few years back when I went to camp with a 16-year-old girl with Autism. It's a one piece black bathing suit with whit trim that covers EVERYTHING that anyone would even kinda, maybe, sorta want to see. I also wore shorts over my bathing suit. And I took the plunge (figuratively in actually wearing a bathing suit, and literally into the indoor pool).
The day was hilarious. The middle school students go swimming every Friday, so they were old pro's at this game. They showed off their aquatic moves, and a few of the guys even treated us to a diving lesson (lots of belly flops). It was awesome to see how at ease and adventurous they are in the water! And how tall they are getting to be! My students were a bit of a mix- some were afraid to go into the water (success at sitting with your legs dangling over the edge!), loved the water but refused to get their heads wet, or full on splashing and dunking themselves. The younger guys were gung-ho!
All in all, the kids had a great time, I got a pretty good workout, and we all spent the rest of the day with crazy hair! See, kids? We love you guys so much we'll look like drowned rats for the rest of the day just for you!
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