Parental Pride

Well, this weekend was momentous. My daughter swims competitively for our town's YMCA team. This all kind of began quite innocently last fall (2009) when I signed her up for a simple 4 Friday swim clinic. She was ok, had a lot to learn, but she really enjoyed it. When she heard talk of the swim team, she asked if she could join, so I said, "Uh, sure, I guess." Before I knew it, she was practicing three days a week, racing on Saturdays (that's a fun exercise in scheduling!) and actually winning races and shaving times! She made it to the New England Championships at Harvard back in March as part of two relay teams and I officially became a swimming mom. She swam over the summer too, doing extremely well and even though she went to sleepaway camp for three weeks and didn't practice, ended up contributing 31 of 94 points for her first place winning team! So I have been up nights worrying about her progress this year and would she be as successful again. At her first meet, she qualified (for those New England Championships) in the 25yd. butterfly!! And this past weekend, she qualified for THREE more events (25yd. freestyle, 100yd. IM, 25yd. backstroke) AND she broke the YMCA record in that backstroke!! I was so hysterical, screaming and filming her that the families around me were giggling at me. She made me so proud, I was about to burst. Cliched, I know, but really, this was the high point of my miserable few months. Because I work on Saturdays, I really cannot attend home meets as they start at 9:00 am. Away meets are easier because they start in the afternoon and I can leave work early. I am so thankful I was able to see her achieve these milestones.
My son decided he wanted to play hockey! He plays Saturday and Sunday mornings at Wesleyan University. His dad takes him on Saturdays, but I still get up at 5:00am to get him ready. Sundays I get him up at 6:00am to get him to the arena by 7:00. His sister needs to come along since it's just me. I feel bad, but he goes to her meets so she's gotta go to his practices and games. Hockey is crazy expensive too! Here's a list of what he needs to wear: helmet with face guard, mouth guard, neck guard, shoulder/chest pads, elbow pads, pelvic protector, shin pads, shorts, shirt, gloves and skates. And all of this stuff has to go into a gigantic bag. So gigantic that he actually got in it and watched a movie in there! He's just starting but doing quite well! He's talking about trying out for the travel team. That should make for fun times around here! But I am one of only a select few moms that can say that "My kids go to Harvard and Wesleyan!"