Wild Swimming ATCs continued...

So following on from yesterday's post, I have Wild Swimming ATCs for the boys today.

Theo's first.

I think Theo is the most like me when it comes to wild swimming. He loves the feeling it gives you - of being alive and invigorated, refreshed and renewed. He embraces the chill factor and takes every opportunity to get in the water - even at completely crazy times of the year, when he has no wet suit or towel with him and just strips down to boxer shorts and wades in regardless.

He has a reasonable respect for dangers, but he does like the adrenaline rush of powerful waves slamming into him, or the challenge of swimming up a current in the river.

So with Theo's ATC I wanted to try and get some of this across, and have sewn words in white - invigorate, refresh, alive, powerful etc - which then also hopefully look like the spray around him in the water. It was hard to do this given the scale of these cards, and the end result isn't quite what I'd pictured in my head, but it was good to try something a bit different.

 

Theo's face was also the one I struggled most with - again the tiny proportions really make it tough to get it right. Or so I find anyway.

And lastly Sam's card.

Sam does love wild swimming but he's the one who, I think, most feels the cold of the water, and is most likely to be put off by the temperature. He much prefers the sea if there are good waves. In fact high waves will tempt him in even if the temperature is very brisk still. (I should say that the sea is pretty chilly round here even at the height of Summer, we're not talking balmy waters ever!)

And Sam is probably, of all my children, the one who is most comfortable in his own skin (they're all pretty comfy, but Sam is completely feet up, relaxed, at home, will do what he thinks, not bothered in the slightest what other people might think comfortable! At times a little too comfy really!). Last year, one of my 'moments' that stuck with me the most was on the beach, early evening on a hot day, after we'd all had a really lovely swim. Everyone had come out of the water, Sam had been wearing a wet suit but had taken that off and was wrapped up in a towel. We were all just watching the sea and the waves; I remember thinking how perfect it still looked, and I think Sam was thinking the same thing. He suddenly unwrapped his towel and flung it over me and ran back into the sea. It was as if the sea had been calling him back and he just had to answer it. And he was completely in that moment and loving it. So when it came to Sam's card, I very much wanted to capture a feel of that moment.

It is great to be in the water with the girls and to see their enjoyment of it. But, at the moment, it's even better to be in the water with the boys, to be out deeper loving the waves, sharing the experience of it much more equally, to be enjoying the exhilaration of it as three wild swimmers rather than as parent/children. As much as I'd love them all to stay little for longer, there are some advantages to them growing bigger! So thank you, Sam and Theo, for your company throughout 2014's wild swimming.

So there you have it. 

A little late, but that's 2014 wrapped up. Bring on the challenge for 2015!

Sally.