H20

It's the last meet of the 2020 corona swim season, and the last meet of my son's 14-year swimming career. It’s amazing to think that someone who just turned 19 can have done anything for 14 years. 

It already feels like the season is beginning to turn. Crape myrtle trees are in full bloom and the days are getting just the tiniest bit shorter. It's still summer, and it will still be summer for a bit. But I won't miss summer when it ends, not this year. 

*****

At the end of the meet, we called the senior swimmers down to the starting end for the traditional seniors’ last swim. It's usually a big deal. Younger teammates, usually at least 60 of them, gather on the deck to cheer for the seniors. Parents cry and hug everyone in sight. The seniors high five and hug and act silly. No hugs this year, and no huge cheering crowd of kids. But with a few teammates and a few parents; just few enough people  to stay under the county’s limit for gatherings, and just many enough to make a little bit of noise, it was still special. They all did their best for 14 years, and they deserved a round of applause. 

Pensive before his last race

*****

We’re going on vacation next week. It’s a change of scenery and a change in routine and there will be some sunshine and some water so it’s all good. Water is the essential ingredient of any summer vacation. Sometimes it’s enough just to look at water; to sit on the beach and look at the waves or to walk next to a creek and look for fish or to stand on a pool deck and look at the neat rows of water marked off by blue and white lane ropes, with blue and white backstroke flags suspended a few feet above. Water can’t necessarily wash everything bad away, but it leaves everything refreshed and a little cleaner. We’ll travel from a small body of water to a large one. When we come back, we’ll be refreshed and maybe a little cleaner; and the end of summer 2020 will be that much closer.