Experience the Normal

         I take a deep breath and just try to absorb the moment.  Nothing special is going on, I'm just making some lunch and my son is playing on the computer in the other room.  It’s just the two of us home right now as his sister is at Girl Scout Camp for two weeks and his dad is at work.  It’s just that lately I've become all too aware that days like this will be gone way before I'm ready for them to end.

            My daughter is 14 and my son is 11 ½ .  Each summer seems to mean I have less and less time with them as they are more inclined to be doing things with friends or pursuing their own interests.  We dropped my daughter off at Girl Scout Camp about an hour away from home two days ago.  She will be there for two weeks.  She’s gone to camp before, but this is the first time it’s been longer than a week.  I missed her before we even got to the camp.  She starts high school in August and of course at this point it’s about spending as much time with her friends and boyfriend as she can.

            Last night my son spent the night with a friend.  It meant that it was just my husband and me at home with the dogs.  I usually love having that alone time with my husband.  Last night it just felt like the house was empty.  This morning when he went to work, it felt even emptier.  I was so relieved when it was time to go pick my son up from his sleep over. 

            It’s just a normal week day during summer break.  I’m doing things around the house and trying to get some of my own things done.  He’s finished eating his lunch and is now downstairs playing on his Xbox.  I’ll be going to the grocery store soon.  But, the fact that we're in the same house for most of the day is really all that matters.   

        So, again I just close my eyes and only focus on the sound of his voice as he’s talking to his friends over his Xbox and the feel of the house when he’s home.  I try to focus all my senses on the simple experience of doing laundry, cleaning the kitchen and preparing to go to the store while he’s here in the house with me.  All too soon it'll be over and we'll be building memories with our children as adults instead of as kids.

Being a Swim Parent

     This past weekend was the YMCA Area Championship Swim Meet for my daughter's swim team.  A swimmer must swim a qualifying time at their Districts Swim meet in order to participate in this swim meet.  My daughter's 200 freestyle relay team qualified, so this was her first year swimming at the area championships.

     This is the part where I get to say, Soccer Moms have NOTHING on swim moms.  The things we do for the love of our children.  This was our road to watching our daughter swim for 32 seconds at an area championship.

     Three years of practices and swim meets.  This includes Y membership fees, swim team fees and meet fees.  Each year our daughter has participated in at least eight meets each of the three years.  Half of these are out of town meets and require hotel stays.

     Meets usually are two days long.  You can spend up to 20 hours in one weekend at a pool to see your child swim a total of about 3 minutes, unless they swim distance and then it could be about 6 minutes total.

     A swimmer must compete in and swim an area time at the district swim meet to qualify for the area championship meet.  Our district meet is held  in a town that is 2 hours away.  It's a two day meet and requires a two night stay in a hotel because it is necessary to be at the pool before 7:00 a.m. the first day.

     A swimmer can either swim two individual events and two relays, three individual events and one relay or just three individual events.  This year our daughter swam two relays and two individual events.  One of her relays qualified for the area championship.

     So, this past Friday we all got in the car after work and school and headed out of town for the third time in two months.  This time instead of driving a couple hours we had to drive 4.5 hours north.  We got to our hotel around 10:30 on Friday night.

     In order to make sure we had a spot in the crash area (the place where all the swimmers and parents sit and wait for their turn in the pool) we had to be at the pool no later than 6:30 a.m.  The crash area can get insane.  You have hundreds, sometimes thousands (as in our district meet) of people all in one space.  Everyone is vying for a spot with their fold up chairs, blankets and paraphernalia, and of course you sit with your team.

     Not only did our daughter only qualify for one event, it's also an event that is always towards the end.  In this case, it was the second to last event of the day.  Her relay team hit the pool deck around 12:30 p.m.  Yes, that is six hours of waiting to watch her swim the second leg of a four person relay.  Her split was 32 seconds.

     We did spend part of the time cheering on her teammates.  So we got to enjoy the camaraderie of the team, because a swim team is NOT just the swimmers.  As parents of swimmers we spend an enormous amount of time together, so we are part of the team, too, as are the siblings who are not swimmers.

     It has been an exciting ride this year and I'm having a hard time believing that this weekend was the last meet of the swim year.  YMCA swim years last from September to March as far as meets go.  Practice will continue through May.  We still have a couple bonding events left, but the meets are over until fall.

      During this year she has discovered her love for swimming distance.  She is planning on working on her 500 freestyle next year with the hopes of maybe making it to area championships in that next year.  She will be in high school next year and be swimming for her high school team too, so hopefully that will give her a little more helpful experience.

      With three years of YMCA swim under our belts, we are already looking forward to next year with the craziness of home meets, the weekends out of town and the insanity of crash areas.  It's all worth in when we see our daughter's brilliant glowing smile as she prepares to jump from the starting block.

Amazing Adventures in Parenting

       My heart was pounding fiercely in my chest.  I could hear it in my ears.  My stomach felt like someone was twisting it an ringing it out.  I could hardly breathe.  It was hot and humid in the building so I was sweating like crazy.  I don't think I've ever been that nervous in my life.  And, all I was doing was sitting in the bleachers.

     We went to my daughter's district championship swim meet this weekend.  This is her third year on the team so, it was her third year at this meet.  Her events this year were 500 freestyle, 100 backstroke, 200 medley relay, and 200 freestyle relay.  It was a particularly exciting meet for her because it was only the second time she's swam the 500 and we knew that her freestyle relay had a good chance of making state time.

     I was nervous for her during her 500.  She's been training so hard for this for weeks, working on endurance and her form.  We were counting on her dropping time during the meet.  It's fun to watch a distance swim because it lasts longer than a sprint.  But, it can be nerve wracking when you know how much the results mean to the swimmer and that swimmer is important to you.  She did fantastic!  She kept her pace the whole 20 lengths of the pool and won her heat.  Her time improved by a whole 4 seconds.

     However, it was nothing like watching her 200 relay.  That event just about killed me.  I am not kidding when I describe how I was feeling watching the relay.  My girl swam the second leg of the relay.  They had to improve their time by 1.5 seconds.  I literally could not breath.  I was terrified to watch the time on the score board.  I did not look at that until the anchor swimmer was on her way back to the block.  It would have been very easy for me to lose control of my bladder at that point.

    When the anchor swimmer hit the wall I let out this very loud yelp/squeal/scream that probably sounded like a pig dying.  I almost collapsed.  Really, I am not being dramatic here.  They managed to improve their time by 3 seconds, making state time by over a second.  They also placed 7th in that event. My baby girl is going to state this year with an awesome relay team.

     It means a trip up north.  The place they hold this meet is about 4 1/2 hours from where we live.  But, to watch my girl participate in her favorite thing at a meet she's been working towards for three years is worth it.

     Anyone that misses out on this part of being a parent has no idea how empty is their life.  I can't imagine having lived without this type of experience.  I could never have felt those feelings that strongly for myself.  I can't wait to do it again, for/with both my children.