My son William is competing this week at Eastern Zones Swimming Championships in Virginia this week. It’s the furthest we’ve ever traveled for a swim meet for our William before. I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was very excited for him. very excited, it’s a big deal to be here and I’m proud of the little guy for qualifying.

I don’t talk about my swimming too much on the blog (because it was over 20 years ago!), but when I was 12 years old… I qualified for Zones (short course) in the 100 yard breaststroke and won Zones. It was a HUGE accomplishment for me and till this say, I still have the medal I was awarded. Swimming defined my life. It kept me determined. It kept me dedicated. It kept me goal-oriented. It kept me motivated. But the BEST part of that Zones team was that I met so many other swimmers from New England. Some of these swimmers I’m STILL friends with to this day and the coaches, too. It was forming these bonds with kids who had the same drive and goals and determination of shared passion and it was AWESOME.

It’s funny, as we were driving here, I had nerves in my stomach. I wasn’t nervous about William’s swimming, I was nervous about William meeting some kids. He “knew” of the kids that were going to be here, but he had never really met any or talked to any before. He’s been swimming with and against these kids who are on different teams for a couple of years now and it’s been fun seeing them all excel and really take-off with this swimming passion. I kept saying to him, “You’re going to know a lot of these kids for years, it would be nice to actually know them now.” I want him to have the best experience (ever) here and I knew that part of it was going to come from the bonds of friends and yes… some fast swimming.

Thankfully, he’s met a good group.

I know that I’m just at the beginning of all this with my kids, but OMG… I can’t believe how I got nervous over him meeting kids!

I guess this is a total, welcome to parenthood.

Here’s to some great swimming today and an experience that he’ll never forget.

Go, NEW ENGLAND!