We Bought ALL the Swag
In SoCal, we have a program called Junior Lifeguards. Basically, it’s like a 3-1/2 week “lifeguard training” camp for kids ages 9-17. You have to try out for it and if you are aged 9-11, that means swimming 100 yards in 1:50 minutes or less. Now, getting in Junior Guards (JG from here on out) is like the South Bay version of cheerleading, or rodeo roping or making the football team in Friday Night Lights. The Saturday of the first tryouts if your kids makes it, you immediately purchase the official oversized blue sweatshirt hoodie and Insta your kid wearing it. And your kid does not remove this sweatshirt until Monday after school - to make sure everyone sees it. That same Saturday, if your kid does not make it, you avoid Instagram at all costs. Because other families joy just amplifies your (and your child’s disappointment).
So what does my daughter do? She just blows the first tryout. Not blows away…like, got such a bad time, I had no clue as to whether or not she simply choked, or was intentionally sabotaging so she would not have to spend a third of her Summer running laps on the beach*
It turns out it was the former. So she trained for two more weeks in order to attend the second tryout. She worked with a coach three times a week (which shows if you work hard, dream big, and throw enough money at a problem, you can achieve anything!) and improved her time. Kind of.
One day she would swim it in 1:45, then the next 1:59. Then 1:43. Then 1:51. I’m not sure if she was just trolling me for two weeks, or had a goal to keep my cortisol levels high enough to keep me at a size 14 or… what.
Then the day of the second test she pulls a 1:32. I mean, at 1:19, the lifeguard timing her looks at my husband and me, says, “She’s got this”, and starts chatting with another guard. We are. SO. PROUD. as much as we wanted her to do this, it would not have happened if she did not work for it and want it as well.
And honestly, even if she pulled a 1:50.05 (that .05 of a second will disqualify you), we would have been proud as long as she did her best. More importantly, though, she was happy. She was even in disbelief that 1:32 was her actual time - she thought maybe it was 1:42 and the dude timing her messed up. But no - she killed it.
So with that three weeks accounted for, we can now plan the rest of Summer. And she is wearing that hoodie as I write this :)
*maybe because I threatened to follow behind by 100 yards for the awesome workout - like in the beginning of Bridesmaids. It’s literally three hours of running and swimming, with some CPR thrown in.