Peak summer

It's Saturday, and a swim meet morning in the DMV. It rained hard last night but the sun is out now, bright and warm; and morning cool is giving way to humid June heat. It smells like chlorine and coffee and sunscreen and wet grass and bacon egg and cheese sandwiches. IYKYK.

I'm no longer a summer swim parent, although my son is still a coach. But I am a summer swim aunt, so I'm here at the Manor Woods pool to watch my 11yo nephew, a summer swimming veteran; and my 7yo niece, who is making her A meet debut. 

I know some people here, so we have other races to watch; and it's fun, though a little weird, to be just a spectator. But the music is loud and the tents and deck chairs are all over the lawn and the kids are in full spirit mode with painted faces and blue and green fingernails and silly costumes. A summer swim meet is a summer swim meet. 

*****

The nice thing about being a summer swim aunt, rather than a parent is that you can come and go whenever you want. We rolled up at 9, and then found that the meet actually starts at 9, so we didn’t miss anything. And we left when the kids had both swum their best events. 

And then what did we do with our extra free time? Well yes, of course we went to another swim meet. A 17-year habit is hard to break. And what’s more fun on a Saturday morning in June, anyway? 

*****

It’s Sunday now, another beautiful June morning, and we're on our way to yet another summer swim meet. My son and some friends joined a local rec league for summer swim alumni and other adult swimmers; and their team, the Swim Reapers, is competing this morning at another old school DMV swim club. It's all sprint distances. It's going to be silly. 

*****

It was actually awesome - swimmers of all ages and many heats of each event, arranged in reverse order by age. No officials - swimmers are on the honor system - and each heat grabs a stopwatch as they finish their races, so they can time the next heat. It works very well. My son and his friend helped the Reapers to a first place finish in the men's medley relay, and he picked up an individual first place in the 19-29 men’s 25 breaststroke, breaking the Reapers’ team record in the process. That was a fun way to spend Sunday morning. Better than church. Sorry, Lord. I’m just keeping it real. 

*****

I usually like to swim laps, but sometimes I like to just get in the pool and swim around the large wide-open shallow end, counting nothing, just moving through the water in any which way. That’s how I swam when I was a child, and it’s still fun. I stay in motion the entire time because even on a hot day, I can’t stay still in a pool without getting very cold. I swim around the perimeter, and back and forth from the wall to the rope that separates the shallow and deep ends. After a morning at a pool that we couldn’t swim in, we spent part of the afternoon at our own pool, swimming like children. I stayed in until I couldn’t stop shivering; until my eyes burned a little bit and my fingers were pruny and I was just plain tired out. Then we went home and grilled dinner and watched swimming again; this time, the Olympic Trials on TV. Meteorologically it’s still technically spring but this weekend was peak summer. 10/10 - would recommend.