Monday evening, as we stood on the beach at Beachy Cove, staring across the channel to Bell Island, I told Katherine about my friend Steph Porter and how she and her friends swam across from Bell Island to the mainland. Three miles is the distance. Almost five kilometers. It’s a long swim in open water*.

As Katherine stared across, thinking hard, I was certain that the next words out of her mouth would be something about how far that was, how she would do it when she got a lot older or how awesomely insane it was for ordinary people to attempt such a thing.

“I can do that. I just need a wetsuit.”

So today, after pooling her savings and borrowing on her allowances for the rest of the summer, she and her new wetsuit ventured into Whiteway Pond for a test splash this afternoon.

I hope it’ll be a good few years before she attempts such a distance, since she’s only nine at present, but she can swim almost a kilometer now, which is a little awe-inspiring in itself. The thing that I love about her is the absolute fearlessness with which she approaches the world; if a thing is within her sights, she knows without a doubt that she can do it, she just needs the tools and training.

Who am I to stomp on a dream? We can all learn a thing or two about picking a goal and tackling it with absolute confidence and determination.

Go to it, kid. You’ve got the wetsuit, now put in the miles.

*wisely Stephanie and company had a boat accompanying them across, in case of accident and to indicate to other motor craft that there were swimmers in the water.