One 8-and under 100-yard Freestyle Relay with three 8-and under brothers…

Eight years ago this August, during the Athens Summer Olympic Games, my daughter Audrey and her husband Matt were living and working in New York City… and Audrey was eight months pregnant with their oldest son, William.

I was recently retired from a 30-year teaching career, and I spent lots of time driving from Rhode Island to the City to spend time with Audrey, Matt and their little bundle all tucked inside my daughter.

We walked the City, we frequented little cafes, we ate outdoors all the time, we ordered in when it was too hot or too rainy… and we watched the Olympic Games on television.  Watching the Games with Audrey brought back such wonderful memories from when she was a young girl, a competitive swimmer for nearly 14 years of her life.  We watched SWIMMING and Michael Phelps with particular fun and interest, and Audrey wondered if her little baby boy would love swimming as much as she and her sister, Jane, did.

Flash ahead 8 years.  Audrey and Matt left the City and settled in Rhode Island.

Yes, William loves swimming…

William began swimming competitively at age 5 at a local summer swim club, and swam for a YMCA Swim Team this past winter and into the summer with Long Course Meter swimming.

BUT… what I don’t think anyone saw coming 8 years ago was that Audrey and Matt would have 4 boys – THAT’S 4 BOYS – within 3 1/2 years.

That makes William (7), Alexander (6), Benjamin (5) and Henry (4), as we speak.

And all 4 of the boys LOVE TO SWIM.

William, Alex and Ben all compete on the same summer club swim team, and yesterday these guys gave us the thrill of our lives by competing on the same 8-and under 100-yard Freestyle Relay!  Here’s the pictorial of this event:

As I think back about watching those 2004 Olympic Games with Audrey and Matt in their NYC apartment… well, I’m amazed at what these 8 years have blessed us with.

I’m amazed.

And just wait ’til next summer, when youngest brother Henry’s on that 8-and under 100-yard Freestyle Relay…

That’s Henry, the youngest McClelland brother, already wearing his shark swim cap, his brothers’ cast-off swim team suit… practicing for when HE’s on the swim team with his 3 older brothers.

Getting his feet wet, so to speak!

I guess Audrey didn’t have all that much to wonder about, after all…