Getting Old

There comes a time in your life when your kids are old enough to outperform you in a task and you realize they are no longer the little ones whose bottoms you wiped for all those years. And though I can still best most my children in any activity, Braden has begun to surprise me. It started with board games, moved on to racquetball, and now that swim team has started, I'm completely losing my footing.

Today Braden and Emmry both competed in the first swim meet of the season. This is Emmry's first year in swim team and though she describes it as "long," she enjoys the heightened status that is associated with it. She competed in a 25 and 50 meter freestyle race, and while she did amazing and came home with a third place ribbon, I would have had no trouble finishing before her. Braden on the other hand competed in the 50 and a 100 meter freestyle, taking third and second respectively. His time on the 100 meters... 1:27.

The problem with this lies in the fact that the previous day in my swim class we swam a 100 free for time. I swam it in 1:37. So the next day I told my coach I wanted to beat my 11-year-old son's time. "That's doable," he tells me. So I swam fast, I kept my head down, I lengthened my stride, I waited to pull through, I kept my arm over the barrel pulling as much water as I could. I was sure I had him. My time... 1:35.

Now I'm faced with the question: does this mean that I'm getting old? Possibly it's just that Braden is getting older. Oh... either way... it means I'm getting old.

Tough Night?

There were four in the bed and the little one said, "Roll over, I'm crowded." So they all rolled over and one fell out...

Unfortunately that was me.

Memorial Day

Growing up visiting my grandparents' bay-side home each summer, I learned early the joys and pains of being pulled behind a speeding boat. My kids thus far being denied this opportunity, I felt it was time. So we took advantage of the holiday, headed up to our closest lake, and threw the kids in the water.

The girls loved tubing with the exception of Chloe who was traumatized when she got dunked on her first turn out - fell right off the back with me when I lost my grip. Braden was thrilled to have his dad try to dunk him on the tube and even got up on the wake board for a few seconds.

We did find it difficult to tell, with a boat engine roaring and our children 20 feet away, if they were shouting out of elation, or screaming out of desperation. We, of coarse the optimists, assumed they were having a wonderful time and continued to pull.

Maybe we should have informed them to let go of the rope!