A Little Bit Jealous.

My swimmer kids have been coming to class, tired, wet-haired, sniffly, and grumpy. It's swim season again around here, and our high school team is always pretty loaded with talent. Yesterday they were all dressed up for their first meet--ties for the boys, dresses and skirts for the girls. Fancy-schmancy shoes. I was sure to ask each one what their event was, and cringed if it was anything over 100 yards. Cuz short and painful is how I roll, yo.

I have to admit I'm a little jealous.

They are whining a bit, but I know deep down they love it. They wouldn't subject themselves to the dryland, the 6am swims, the 5,000 yard workouts, if they didn't really love it.

One thing I do regret about high school was giving up swimming. I quit swimming year-round when I was 14 for (of all things...gulp...I'm so embarrassed to type this) cheerleading and softball. Yeah. But a lot of it was that our school didn't have a pool so it required a lot of travel time, and swimming is the kind of sport that unless you give it 100%, your times get slower and slower and slower. And also, there were quite a few people on the team in my class that had tormented me in middle school, and I was kind of over them, and DEFINITELY didn't want to spend extra time of my life with them. That seems like a silly reason now, but when you're 14 and had spent the past 2-3 years being relentlessly bullied, it seemed quite fine thank you very much.

So now I see my swimmer kids, all tired and chlorine-y and grumpy, and I just want to trade places with them for a day. Because literally all they do is swim, eat, study, and sleep. Repeat. I know that might be rough after a while, but man...right about now I kind of wish I could have just one day to swim, eat, study, and sleep. No bills. No mortgage. No huge pile of laundry to sort and fold that is spilling over into the hallway. Just swim, eat, study, and sleep.

One day of that would be just about perfect. One day to take back my silly mistake from Me, Version 1992. And then I'd be more than happy to go back to Adult-Land. (Wait. Adult-Land sounds like some perv store you see the sign for off the highway in the bad side of town...um, well, you know what I mean, right?) But I realize that even though I think I'm busy, there are people out there with much more on their plate than me.

So here's to everyone out there, whether you're 16 or just young-at-heart, who are a little tired today and maybe even a little bit grumpy, because you got up to get 'er done in the cold and dark at whyamInotinbednow?-o'clock. Someone out there is wishing they could have that time you just did. Even if you think you are busy, remember someone out there at this very moment is dealing with more than you can even wrap your head around. And a good, healthy dose of endorphins is worth the smelly chlorine-y skin, the stinky running shoes tossed in the car, and the slightly damp hair on the way to work today. So turn that frown upside down.

And maybe one of these days I'll get to the pool again.