Just popping in to say Happy Saturday! Hope you’re all having a nice start to the weekend.
The big event around here is Asher’s Regional swim meet. He’s swimming both today and tomorrow, and our team is co-hosting, so I have to volunteer. FORTUNATELY, I am no longer the team’s Volunteer Coordinator, so this weekend is about 5,492 times less stressful now than it was previous years for me.
For the past 5 years or so, this weekend absolutely dominated my life for much of January/early February, getting things organized and prepared. It was so stressful. But now, I’m just a normal parent! Just have to show up, work my shift, and go home. PRAISE THE LORD.
I will still be helping out at the Volunteer Check-In table (I’m still friends/ in close contact with the new moms who took over for me). Obviously I have a lot of experience with all things volunteer related, so this job is a good fit, and I actually really like that job. It’s easy, I can step away to watch Asher’s races, and it keeps me in the “meet organizing loop” without having to do all the pre-meet stuff (which was the really hard, time-consuming part).
Asher is excited for this meet! It’s the end of the season now, so they’ve been tapering the kids (every practice was “so easy” this week, he said), and he has a fancy new tech suit. I won’t bore you with all the details, but basically, once kids hit 13 years old in the swimming world, they are legally allowed to wear “tech suits”.
These are specially designed racing suits that fit super tight (like, it takes him 10-15 minutes to slowly wiggle it on, it’s that tight…), have no seams, are made of special materials and are meant to avoid any drag in the water. Basically, they’re designed to make you swim as fast as possible. They only wear these special suits at big meets when they are really there to RACE. (There is also apparently a mental component that accompanies these suits. The kids know the suits are supposed to make them fast, so….they swim fast! Placebo effect?? Whatever works…)
He previously had one of the 12&under versions (which are not as advanced and don’t provide nearly the same benefits), but now has his first real, 13+ approved tech suit. He’s very excited to hopefully transform into a speeding bullet in the water, courtesy of this special suit. 😅😅 We’ll see. Hopefully he just does his best and has lots of fun!!!
Well, better run. Charlie needs a good long walk. Ethan is working today and Ivan just left to run a bunch of errands. Mr. Charlie will likely be chilling at home in his crate for quite a while this afternoon, so I’m off to tire him out. 🙂
Everyone send good vibes and SPEEDY thoughts to:
- Asher!
- Sarah! (racing half marathon tomorrow; has been kicking absolute ass in her training and is going to crush it)
- Jenny! (running a 50-mile ultra-marathon TODAY! RIGHT NOW! GO JENNY GO!! You are a beast!!!)
Meanwhile, me:
Daily Gratitude:
I am grateful that Asher is in the afternoon session instead of the early morning session this weekend. LOL. Just keepin’ it real… digging the slow morning here.
GRATEFUL KAE 
Yay for not being the volunteer coordinator any more! Isn’t it the BEST feeling?! I was the PTA president (or vice president) at my daughter’s school for 5 years, which was mostly made up of students from socio-economically disadvantaged families whose parents could not participate in parent volunteer efforts. The amount of time I spent and work I did for the PTA during those years still makes my head spin. Sometimes I open the old folder on my desktop and just seeing all the fliers and letters gives me a brief panic attack. It was insane. I am SO GLAD those days are over. And now I can just give money when the PTA at my son’s (different) school asks for it. It’s the best.
LikeLike
Yes, those volunteer jobs are so important, and clearly someone has to do them… but yeah. They can be SO much. Too much!! I’m so relieved to be done with that now. I feel like it’s actually a best fit for a parent who is sort of new to it all. As I parent for longer and longer here, I find myself starting to get a little burned out on all the events, the activities, etc. ~5 years ago it was all more novel and I was more interested in playing a bigger role. Now the boys are both almost high school aged and I am feeling ready to sit back and sort of just coast a little! Just want to enjoy being there for them and watching without so many “extras” anymore. I was also team manager for both boys’ soccer teams for many years, too. Fun while it lasted, but a-okay moving on to a non-lead role in all of that now. 🙂
LikeLike
I hope Asher did great today!
LikeLike
He had a great weekend! Personal best times in every event except one. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Go Asher! Placebo effect or not, it the suit makes him faster then all money well spent! I’m intrigued really by how much it will help. Sofía has a time trail next weekend and that’s my favorite event to watch! I get so excited and love seeing her nervous and trying to calm down at the same time. No matter the outcome as long as she did her best, I’d be proud of her.
LikeLike
He did really well!! He had 8 individual races and 2 relays, and went personal best times in all except one event. Not sure the suit was “magic” or anything (maybe he would have swam similar times in a regular suit!), but who knows. He had a great meet!! Ended the season on a very high note and he felt really good about it all.
LikeLike
I hope it went well (unlike my own race, ahem…) None of these details are boring. I’m fascinated hearing about tech suits and anything else about competitive swimming. I love watching all the swimming in the Olympics (so excited it’s coming up THIS SUMMER) but I don’t know much about what goes on behind the scenes. I hope Asher had fun and felt like he did well. And I hope you enjoyed the day too!
LikeLike
Oh I am so excited to watch the summer Olympics too!! SO fun. Usually there is not a ton of pro swimming televised, so I love seeing it showcased on the big screen during the Olympics. Asher had a great meet! Personal bests in every event except one. Ended on a high note and very happy! 🙂 Still so bummed for you that your race didn’t go as planned. 😦 SAD. But you’ll get it next time! And you still have so much to be proud of!!
LikeLike
I recently went to an event at the community center where I used to volunteer as just a regular community member. It was so freeing!! Yay for being relieved of intensive volunteering responsibilities!!
LikeLike
I’m behind on blogs after being gone this weekend so finally playing catch up. I am so glad you can just be a volunteer! Phew! I hope Asher had a great meet – but will hop over and read about it as I know you posted today!
LikeLike