My swimmer

Crazy faced swimmer!


Breaststroke!

Haylee with her relay team(black goggles)

So most of you know that I spent the better part of my childhood in the pool--hours upon hours of back and forth, hundreds of thousands of laps, always training. At one point I realized that probably somewhere hiding on my skin are gills, because I feel almost more at home in the water than I do in the air. For years I ate, drank, and breathed swimming and loved it. Even now a summer doesn't pass by without me somewhere near a pool or in a pool, teaching or coaching the next generation and perpetuating the love of the sport.

When I became a mother, I vowed that I would never force my children to swim. Well, that's a lie, because I do feel strongly that swimming is a critical life skill that must be attained and for the skill to be sufficient our family has a 3-summer minimum requirement for swim team. However, I did vow that I wouldn't force my children to swim like I swam--I would only require summers and allow them to choose it as a year-round sport if they loved it. After all, swimming is no small commitment. It is intense, to say the least. Early mornings all summer long, practice before school in winter, weight training, two-a-days for the entire season (we used to laugh when the football players complained about their two week stint in two-a-days).

This year my oldest daughter, Haylee, chose swimming as her sport. Now she still loves to sing and dance, and will probably always find a way to incorporate that into her life, and I support her completely in doing that. But this year she chose to become part of her high-school swim team. And it has not been easy. She has had a shoulder injury that has plagued her the entire season, virtually preventing her from improving the way she has wanted to, but she has stuck with it. Tomorrow is the Region Swim Meet, and she will be swimming the 50 free and the 100 breaststroke. I am so proud of her. And while her swimming and her accomplishments belong completely to her, I am thrilled to claim her as MY SWIMMER!!!

Go Haylee! Show them how it's done, sweetie!