m.o.M - mother of Michael

Fan Frenzy

Another early wake-up call, another pre-dawn drive, another swim meet. A  "more often than not" weekend morning of a swim mom and her swimmer. I never thought I'd say it, but as these trips near their end, I'm going to miss them. Lizzy and I have seen a lot of sunrises from the highway and eaten our fair share of ice cream on the way home. By this time next year she'll be gone to college and riding buses to meets with her new team, creating new routines and swimming in a different realm.

Well, as Bogart said to Bergman, "We'll always have Paris."

Sunday's meet in Daytona followed the same routines as other meets with one exception: There was a celebrity in our midst! The swimmers were a-buzz and t-shirt sales were through the roof as the rumor spread that Ryan Lochte would be on deck signing autographs and showing his medals from the Bejing Olympics.

All the good parents (not me) stood in line while the kids swam their races. As the parents approached the front of the line, somehow, the swimmers would appear from nowhere to have shirts, dollar bills and even skin autographed by Ryan.

One of the things I did notice was that it didn't matter if there were 10 shirts to sign or 10 questions to be asked about either himself or the Olympics, Ryan took time with each and every swimmer.

I wanted to take of picture of him holding my knitting, but when I said this, a resounding "NO!" came from each and every kid on our team. You'd think it was planned, it was such a perfect and loud NO!

And, yes, I too swooned just a little.

It's Gonna be a Bright, Bright Sunshiny Day!

Sure, I groan when that alarm blasts at 6:00 am on Saturday morning. Of course I moan as we back out of the driveway in the pitch-black darkness. And you better believe that I complain about spending three hours driving for a two hour swim meet.

Then the sun peeks over the horizon and I am thankful for being in that spot at that moment and having the good fortune to see the beginning of another day.