Our First Meet of the Summer

This week we attended our first swim meet of the summer. It was just like any other meet, really, with two notable exceptions:

1) We were racing to beat the impending severe storm. The day was miserable: hot, humid, dew point in the 80's, and a heat index of 110. There was no shade to be found at the pool, and we parents were so thankful to see clouds on the horizon. But then the clouds turned dark and ugly, and we knew we were in trouble.

We made it almost all the way through the meet. Brogan was on the blocks to swim the 100 IM when thunder rumbled overhead. They swam the heat anyway (I know!) but ended after the kids got out.

Brogan won that event. Probably because he was worried he'd get hit by lightning if he didn't get out of the pool ASAP. Thunderstorms= great motivation!

( Brogan - the lower "above water" swimmer- swimming the breaststroke in the 100 IM)

2) The second noteworthy aspect of this meet involved Colson. After 5 years of watching his brothers swim, this summer he finally got his chance to join the team. This was his very first meet ev-ah. He was excited to finally be participating. And he knew that every time he got would be a "best time."

Colson was only able to swim one event before we got rained out. Here he is "taking his mark" for the "8 and under" 25 freestyle.


He actually dove off the starting block! I wasn't able to get a picture, because the starter was in the way. Colson taught himself to dive by watching his brothers. It never occurred to him that it might be hard or a little intimidating to dive off the high starting blocks. Everyone else does it, so he thought he should too.


I was holding my breath as he got to the deep end of the pool. He was swimming so slowly that I was worried he might just stall and go under. But he kept moving forward and finished with a "best time" of 44 seconds. (Dad, you will have nothing to worry about when you're racing Colson. Hee! Hee!)

Here's his finish of the race.



After he got out of the pool, I asked him how he felt.

His one-word answer: "Awesome!!!!"