Madeline is on the swim team. They practice at 7 am and it is a 30 minute drive from the house. So we get up early. I drive her to swimming at 6:30 am. It is a special bonding time...during which we sit in utter silence. One time I tried to talk to her and we were both a little startled at the sound of my voice. I had broken the code of pre-dawn silence.
She is the youngest and smallest to have made the team. She is not winning any races at the meets.
When she returned from a recent meet in Munich, she informed us she achieved personal best times, by a wide margin, but nevertheless failed to qualify for the final meet in Warsaw. She was disappointed. Then she made me very proud.
She said she didn't want to be disappointed like that again, so she committed to attending every practice with the team and working harder than ever for the next two weeks even though she is not swimming in the meet. She committed to doing whatever it would take to make the swim team, and eventually win some races, in Manila. She said she does not want to play softball this spring or soccer next fall, only swimming, always.
A few days later, she was informed she could attend the meet in Warsaw because another swimmer had to drop out!
And a pic, because snow.
And a pic, because snow.
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