Thursday, July 28, 2011

Swimming

funny pictures - NEW OLYMPIC EVENT FOR 2012     SYNCHRONIZED CARPET SWIMMING
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I never made it back online to blog yesterday or blog hop. I ended up napping for a very long time, then it was all about my son.

His arm hurts. It itches. He can't get comfortable. But it's just not the arm dragging him down. It's not being able to swim.

If all had gone according to plan (i.e. no broken arm), I would be down in Eugene, OR. I'd be sitting under a pop-up tent watching Finn swim the 200 IM or the 200 Free with all the other kids who'd met the Long Course Championship's A qualifying time. (I can't remember the exact stroke, and I don't feel like pulling up the meet info.)

But instead I'm home. I'm watching the clock to make sure we stay on track with his pain medication. We've got a spot for him set up on the couch with pillows to support his arm because the sling gets uncomfortable after awhile.

He's gotten Dairy Queen, Starbucks and Menchies. McDonalds and Little Caesar, too. All this faves in the last two days. But the kid really doesn't care about that. He'd rather be dripping with water that smelled like chlorine, sitting on a hard bleacher next to his teammates and snacking on a Cliff Bar Jr.

This would have been his first Long Course Championships. He was so excited to head to Eugene for the four day state meet. He qualified in 5 individual events (100 Free, 200 Free, 400 Free, 100 Fly & 200 IM) and was put on 2 relay teams. Not bad for a kid who aged up at the end of April and had qualified for everything by the beginning of June (while we were in NY he missed all the later meets.)

So now we're not only have to deal with his pain and discomfort, but teaching him to deal with disappointment. It's a lesson all kids need to learn. He's dealt with it before in soccer a couple of years ago. But it's still hard.

A friend from college, Al, reminded me about the Swimming World Championships happening right now. Last night Finn watched his favorite swimmer Ryan Lochte win. Tonight we'll watch again. But I know Finn would rather be swimming himself rather than watching someone else do it.