(43-354) Better Than First Place

When I opened my eyes this morning I had absolutely no idea what day it was.  I thought for a moment "is it Friday, and I have to get up to work?"  I considered it and then thought "it might be Saturday."  Feeling pretty confident that it was in fact Saturday, I checked my cell phone for the time, saw that it was 6:45am and yelled  "WE OVERSLEPT!!!!!!!!!!!"   Luis woke up immediately and asked what was wrong, and I frantically said "WE OVERSLEPT, we're supposed to be at the pool in five minutes."  And the pool was a good 20 minutes away (15 if someone other than Luis was driving.) 

We woke the kids up, explained that we overslept and rushed everyone to get ready.  I texted Kailene to let her know what was going on and asked her to save spots for us.  The truth of the matter was, we did have a little time to spare, because the only thing that we were truly late for was getting their early enough to wait online, so that we could get a good spot.  The kids didn't really have to be in the pool until 730, and the meet wasn't supposed to start until 8.

My family did a great job of getting ready on the fly.  I had Luis take Nicky and Kelsie up to the pool, and Lyndzi and I made a Dunkin Donuts and McDonald's run, because there was no way that I was gonna wake up without a big ole Iced coffee and Luis wanted a couple of breakfast burritos.  Including my two stops, I managed to pull into the parking lot at 734 and I was quite impressed with myself.  

Once everyone was settled in at the meet, and I had a minute to think, I recalled another day when I'd overslept in a similar way, and suffice it to say it didn't end as well as today did.  It was May 1984 and I had a VERY busy weekend.  That Friday night I went to my friend Russell's senior prom.  The next day, Big V and I, along with several other friends, went to Great Adventure.  We arrived home MUCH later than we were supposed to, which I do admit was my fault; and my mom was none to happy with me.  I was SO exhausted that I didn't pack for our choir tour which was leaving first thing the following morning.  I went to sleep and woke up to a panicked call from my friend Melissa.  She asked what I was doing because two buses of people were waiting for me so that we could leave for our choir tour.  "Oh my God, Oh my God, Oh my God!"  I had overslept, my school was a good twenty minutes away, no matter who drove and I wasn't even packed.  I begged my mom not to make me go; but she was not so sympathetic and she ordered me to throw some stuff in a bag and get my ass in the car.  I felt humiliated as we pulled into the parking lot and saw the two huge buses sitting there.  I climbed onto my bus as mortified as could be.  I tried not to look anyone in the face, for fear that they would give me the stink eye, or worse.  I climbed into my seat, and tried to look invisible, but that only lasted a few minutes, because I burst out into a loud laugh when my friend Patti's mom asked "does anyone want something hard to suck on"?  heck, I'm laughing about it now.  How immature am I ?  Before our choir director would allow the buses to pull out he insisted on making an announcement over the loud speaker, crediting me for our late departure and advising that at each and every stop we made, I was expected to be on the bus no less than ten minutes before everyone else.  I guess that was a small price to pay, so I accepted my punishment without objection and the buses pulled out, for New Orleans.

I shared this story today with Lyndzi and Kelsie, sans the hard sucking candy part and I think that they felt bad for me. No need to though, because at least I can look back and chalk it up to experience.  A bad experience, but an experience.

Our lateness didn't effect my kids at all.  Both got to warm up on time, although Kelsie wasn't needed in the meet since the top eight swimmers were in attendance.  Nicky swam his race and came in sixth, exactly where he was seeded, and I am delighted to say that he was very happy with that.  I guess we really got through to him; an that for me is better than a first place medal.
Till next time...
Queen of EVERYTHING

(43-310) The Longest Swim Meet EVER!

Tonight we participated in the longest swim meet EVER and thus, this just may be my shortest blog EVER!

I had spoken with our new coach last week and agreed to resume my position as place recorder for our home meets.  Our coach asked if I would be the announcer, but I told him that I preferred not to.  I asked him to try to find someone else for that job; but assured him that if he couldn't;  I would do it. 

We arrived at our team pool at 415, and the girls starting warming up at 440.  Our coach explained that his brother (who had A LOT of experience), would begin announcing the race, but one of the dad's had volunteered so he would take over after a while.  The dad introduced himself to me, and I in turn introduced him to Luis, and my friend Kailene, as I had enlisted their help in calling the meet.  I explained the process that we use, and what he'd have to do.  He was receptive and observed (somewhat) quietly, until it was time for him to give announcing a try.

Because it was the first meet of the season, I suppose that it was inevitable that we'd get a bit of a late start.  In addition to that, the visiting team had 240 swimmers,  which increased the duration of the meet, and having a newbie on the mic, just made us run even later.  I have to give our new volunteer credit.  It's a big job if you've never done it before.  I was telling him what to say, and sometimes he'd listen and sometimes he wouldn't but I had to laugh when he referred to me as (yup) The Queen...  And yes, he said it in a nice way.

OK, I said I was gonna keep this short, and I've already blown that; so let me tell you what I liked best about the longest swim meet EVER.  My kids didn't come home with as many high scoring ribbons as they have in the past, but I have to say that we could see how very hard they were trying, and how much effort they put in; and that's more meaningful to us than how they placed.    Lyndzi did a great freestyle and came in third; but her crowning moment was when she swam anchor in her freestyle relay.  Her lane was not particularly fast, and when we saw the swimmer that went before her, we thought for sure her lane would finish last.  But Lyndzi dove in and swam her heart out, and her lane wound up placing 4th.out of 8.   Kelsie started out strong in her freestyle and back stroke, but quickly lost momentum.  Her lane placed third in their freestyle relay, and we definitely noticed more effort on her part; and that's what we really appreciated.  Nicky would be my candidate for most improved.  He really tried to swim faster than he has before and he had an absolutely, beautiful flip turn, which impressed us all. 

The funniest award of the night, hands down goes to Luis.  We were waiting to start the next race, and I asked what time it was, and Luis (in the most laid back voice) said " I don't know... like 11."  It was 8:50; and just the way he said it, connoted that it was a long ass meet and he was ready for it to be over.  But trooper that he is; that we all were - we carried on, and finally finished the LONGEST swim meet ever at 10pm. 

I am so glad that summer is here and that swim team is underway.  As always, I was very proud of my kids, and extremely thankful for Luis' help.  Kailene's too!   I joke about it being long, but it also was fun; and that's what's most important.
Till next time...
Queen of  EVERYTHING