Diving
By Angie Bromeland Each time Larissa dove, she felt revived. It was the closest thing to flying she could do. It gave her such a thrill. Of course, it wasn’t always this way. When she was younger, she needed to be taught water safety and how to swim. She didn’t learn to dive until she was 9. Now, she was a diver. She could already do a forward tuck and pike, and was now working on her backward twist. Larissa was so lively. When she put all that energy into diving, it made people gasp with amazement. She was both graceful and powerful. Larissa was lucky that her family had a pool with a diving board, so she was able to practice often—even when she wasn’t in swim and dive class. At first, her mom chafed about her practicing so much, but she knew how much joy it brought Larissa. One day, as her mom sat at the pool, watching Larissa, she remembered how free she felt the first time she learned how to dive. She smiled and closed her eyes. She could easily picture the day. Her memo...