Yesterday was Shilo's first high school swim meet. It was a non-league meet against a high school in the city. At a school (and pool) that had to be at least a hundred years old.
Traffic was a nightmare, not only because of construction narrowing a thoroughfare down to one lane, but because it was rush hour (which seems to start around 3pm, from what I can tell. What do all these people do for work, for goodness sakes?). I had a late start, because Bill called 2 minutes before I was leaving, letting me know that Taylor had a "problem." His car had been rendered unusable (on his lunch break from Toys R Us), and he needed to get to his second job at Dominos immediately following his shift. I started calling/texting Lexee, who was going to save the day because, thankfully, she didn't have cheer practice OR gymnastics after school. She would be able to pick Taylor up, have him run her home, then he could be on his way again. If I could only get a hold of her. That girl racks up the texts every month, but do you think she had her phone with her when I needed her to? It was on vibrate, tucked into the pocket of her jeans, which were tucked into her gym bag, since she has a PE class at the end of the day. And she decided to hang out at the school for a while, since she had the day off of all after-school responsibilities.
My stress level, as I navigated the horrendous traffic AND tried getting a hold of Lex, was extremely high. Then a car in front of me decided to make a left turn, in a lane that clearly had a sign stating that a left turn was not allowed. Our lane stopped. Cars to the right rushed by. I honked. Then honked again.
Remember my resolution to be more charitable and Christlike? Out the window in a few short days. And church on Sunday was meant just for me. I had even rededicated myself again to being better. More kind. More loving. More patient. I mean, I'm no ogre, but I could definitely improve.
The car finally noticed the no-left-turn sign (after my gentle reminder), and proceeded through the light. Once I arrived at the school, I didn't know where to park, so I selected the front, in the visitor parking. I walked into the school, and asked the group of students at the help desk where the pool was. A nice young man started to explain, then said, "I'll walk you there, it's kind of confusing." The kindness of humanity (and a teenager at that), shone at that moment.
We took the long walk to the far recesses of the school, and arrived at the pool area just in time to catch the first event.
Shilo did well. It was a new experience, since she was swimming 4 events, and several of them were one-right-after-the-other. After her backstroke, another mom leaned over and said, "Shilo just made an A League time!" Her excitement and exuberance let me know that it was a big deal. I decided that I need to do some research to figure out how all this high school swim stuff works. That way I'll know when it's a big deal or not. Which may lead me into being one of those crazy swim moms.
Today's loaded, and tomorrow too. I will exercise patience. I will show love.
I know I can, I know I can, I know I can.
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