WORKING BACKWARDS

I have been away from here so long that in order to move forward, I must work backwards.

Let me start with yesterday.

And to start with yesterday, let me share with you a quote from my new favorite book, Lemony Snicket's "Horseradish: Bitter Truths You Can't Avoid." Hilarious. Hilarious and true.

Page 59
"When people ask you if you play a certain sport, it is likely that they are very good at that sport and are hoping you are only mediocre so that you can waste an afternoon losing a game. In such instances the safest action is to run away very quickly as soon as the question is asked."

Yesterday I went to a swim meet. Swimming is the only sport I am actually any good at doing. Every other sport, including those on Wii Sport, is one which I have so shot at (no pun intended), so I do run away very quickly as soon as anything having to do with sports comes up.

I can handle watching a swim meet, though. It would have been nice to watch Lane swim in the swim meet, seeing as he was the whole reason I was there in the first place, but that didn't happen. What did happen is this:

Lane called me at 3:00 and said, "Mom, are you coming to my swim meet?"
To which I replied, "Doesn't it start at 3:30?" "Yes," Lane responded, "But I don't get to swim today. I just found out while I was on the bus over here, so can you come get me?"
So I went to get him.
Once at the swim meet place I called Lane on my trusty little cell phone and asked him to come meet me outside. "I can't," he said, "the coach has to see you come inside and get me." Whatever.
Has the coach not seen that there are NO PARKING SPACES ANYWHERE NEAR the pool? Is my child NOT in HIGH SCHOOL and capable of walking outside by himself? Apparently not! So I parked about a mile away, and headed in. Once in, I found out that the reason Lane was not swimming was because the school had not given the coach the information that Lane (or, shall we say, Lane's Mom) had paid the participation fee. So I showed the coach, who definitely had no idea how far away I had to park, the receipt for my check, and Lane was suddenly eligible to swim.

Meanwhile, Joshua was about to be let out from school, and had no one to meet him or tell him where I was. Oh, trusty cell phone, how I need one of you for each of my children!

So I trekked back out to the car, drove to Joshua's school, drove back to the swim meet, parked an additional three miles away since even more people had come to the meet by this time, and rushed in to watch Lane swim.

Except that I never got to see him swim, ever, because he was in the very first event, which took place while I was getting Joshua from school. And after swimming the very first event Lane got so sick to his stomach that he spent the next 45 minutes in the bathroom, throwing up.

Not knowing any of this, Supportive Mom (that's me, by the way), spent the next 65 minutes standing on rickety metal risers in tropical rain forest humidity scanning every single swimmer for someone who might be Lane. That's tricky to do when they wear swim caps! It's also tricky to find your child when they don't carry their trusty little cell phone around with them at a swim meet (understandable, I suppose. I mean, really, where would they put the thing?) or when hunched over a toilet bowl, throwing up.

Finally I found him; black circles under his eyes, wet bum-print on his shorts, straw-like hair sticking out in all directions. He was quite a sight. We both should have gone running at the very first mention of athletics, and all that's required to support them (tee hee, tee hee...).

However, if I hadn't been at the swim meet, I wouldn't have seen a lovely thing, despite missing my own child's endeavors. This lovely thing I saw was a relay race, and in this relay race was a young man with Down Syndrome. He swam as quickly and skillfully as many other young men around him, which was impressive in it's own right. But what was most impressive was the response and interaction that his teammates gave him. Boy, oh boy, did they cheer him on. Boy, oh boy, did they give him lots of props and man hugs and smiles when he got out of the water. It was touching. I thought how neat it would be if everyone could be treated so well, no matter who they are or what their differences.

But wait! I haven't told you the lovely thing yet!

I kept watching this one team, and you know what? That is how they treated everyone on the team, no matter who they were or what their differences. I'd like to meet the coach of that team. In fact, I'd like to meet that team! They showed me something truly beautiful. Come to think of it, watching the men swim the butterfly stroke wasn't half-bad, either.