It was 12℉ (-11℃) this morning when our daughter and I pulled out of the garage at 5:10 to drive to swim practice. Less than 12 hours prior, when we were on our way home from swim practice, she told me she wanted to start going to morning practices on Wednesdays. “They do power towers … Continue reading Frozen swim gear
Dear Swimming, As much as I complain about you — about the middle of the night wakeups, about the cost, about the 3-day swim meets where we spend 18 hours at the pool for 12 minutes of our daughter swimming — I love you dearly. I abandoned you for many years. I used a tread … Continue reading Love Letter to Swimming
Our ten-year-old daughter has been swimming on the H2Okies swim team for about 3 years now. She loves it not for the winning, or even the chance to win (she doesn’t win), but because she is at home in the water, because she has fun, and because she gets to hang out on deck with … Continue reading Exciting news from the pool deck
I fell asleep last night to the soft sound of our daughter snoring next to me, and I woke up to a small warm hand stroking my back. I turned over under the poofy down comforter to face her, and there was her smiling chubby-cheeked face buried in my husband’s pillow, her swim meet hair … Continue reading Mother daughter interlude
Little girls in pajama pants and dripping swim caps, the insides of their arms marked with Sharpie charts – Event | Heat | Lane – play UNO and eat nachos on the floor. They giggle and dance and grab each other’s wrists to read the numbers when the loudspeaker announces “Event 57, Girls 10 and … Continue reading “You want some? We can share.” Kid sport culture.
Today, before practice, our 7 year old daughter stood before me on our carpeted floor, one foot fidgeting on the other and her hands clasped in front of her. She looked embarrassed, or worried. I waited. “We have to do butterfly in the meet,” she said. She started swimming yesterday with the Blacksburg Orcas, our … Continue reading Eye on the prize
Butterfly Mind 