By Jeremiah Cahill

When our two granddaughters were in elementary school, my wife and I signed up for a family membership at Parkcrest, one of Madison’s numerous neighborhood swimming pools. Just blocks from our home, it was a great choice for healthy outdoor recreation. We returned each season for several years.

Back in 2017, our 10-year-old granddaughter—let’s call her Val—had a robust swim season. Of the two girls, she was the one who most enjoyed the water. Val took swim lessons and completed a second-level diving course, improving steadily in technique and confidence. She and her group of friends would splash and play for hours. Together, she and I swam a few easy laps and did a fair amount of diving.

Val didn’t need to coax her then-71-year-old grandpa to join her in the water. I grew up in Hawaii, so swimming, diving, and surfing have been second nature to me.

But one thing I began to notice in the Madison area during those years—we started to have occasional cooler bouts of summer weather.  Previously, August could be hot and sticky up to and including the Labor Day weekend. But during the last decade, we’ve felt some cool, cloudy days in late summer—a weather anomaly now thought to be due to shifts in the jet stream. Not ideal when looking for warmth and sunshine before jumping in the water!

On August 30, the last day that Val and I would swim together before the next school year, I was thrilled as the temperature rose to 79 degrees under mostly sunny skies. Perfect! She and I swam a few leisurely laps in the main pool, then moved to a separate pool, the so-called “diving well.” There, two diving boards lead an endless stream of kids to try out their latest flips and twists, plunging into twelve feet of water.

Val suggested “let’s do the same dive together.” Luckily, not many kids were lining up so we could each take one of the diving boards, side by side. We chose a simple forward dive and tried to synchronize our approach. Not so easy. We made a couple of initial attempts and our coordination got better. We agreed to a walking countdown of “1-2-3” at which point we would each take our bounce off the end of the board.

On the fourth try, it came together. We counted down in unison, made the approach, bounced skyward and hit the water at about the same moment. When diving, with gravity and a lot of momentum, I like to go down and touch the pool bottom before surfacing. Val had pined to do the same thing, and often asked me “Did you touch?”  

But it’s a long way down for a ten-year old.

That day, we dove and as my hand hit bottom, I opened my eyes and looked toward her. Through the sparkling blue water, I caught a glimpse of her pumping arms and legs to get deeper. She’s way down! Turning up, we both shoot to the surface, break through, and she hollers “I did it!”

Could there be a more perfect way for a water-loving grandpa to cap off the summer with his granddaughter? Nothing compares! Val and I had a great time in the water all season, and gained a good measure of fitness. Together we had that one last well-synchronized dive, with her meeting her goal to reach the pool bottom.

The only downside? “My ears hurt,” she said on surfacing. Yup, that’s the pressure change in deeper water. “Don’t worry, honey, next year you’ll learn how to equalize that.” 

Up on the pool deck, we’re both grinning. Great summer!

Afterword: As of this writing, Val is 16 years old and in the early stages of a transgender process. He’s trying out new names—currently it’s Nick—and seems to be going forward calmly and with confidence. I like to think that this journey will work out as well as did his diving challenge! 

© 2024 Jeremiah Cahill

Jeremiah Cahill, Madison Wisconsin, writes an occasional memoir to help him make sense of his past.