My little firecracker is all of a sudden a decade and a half old. I can’t believe that in another six months she’ll be driving, with me in the passenger seat holding on for dear life. I could wait another couple of years for that, but of course she’s already counting the days.
This spring and fall I witnessed my baby girl doing something so incredibly brave. A highly competitive, year-round swimmer since the age of 7, she had the most challenging year of her swim career in the second half of 2024 into the beginning of 2025. She caught pneumonia and then mono, neither of which were conducive to waking up at 4:15am for 5am practice, and yet, she powered through for months. We traveled to Florida in March for her favorite meet - NCSA’s - and she had a blast running around with her friends at Universal in between races.
In the late spring, although the illnesses were behind her, the fatigue lingered and she struggled to make it to her 5am practices. I could tell that she might be ready to return to a normal schedule with high school approaching in the fall. Having to go to bed at 8:30pm wouldn’t allow for much of a social life for my fun-loving, outgoing girl. She grappled with the decision a bit, but in May ultimately chose to stop year-round club swimming in order to pursue high school sports. Despite the relief of no longer having that early morning wake-up call, it was a very emotional spring as you would expect, and as a mom I worried about her mental health, with swimming being such a big part of her life for so long and suddenly, she was done.
But summer swim started at the end of May, soon after she had her last practice with her club team. The seven-week season flew by, with many races won and the team taking home the league championship title. At All-Stars she came home with a 2nd place medal in Butterfly, her favorite stroke.
As high school approached, she was debating which team to try out for: the field hockey team or the volleyball team. Ultimately, volleyball won out, and she started attending green days to practice for tryouts. The tryout process was rigorous, and nearly forty freshman girls were trying out for 15 spots, many of whom had played on club teams and were known by the coach. She worked hard and felt good in the tryouts, but injuries are never something you can predict. On the second day of tryouts I got a call at work from the team trainer. She had rolled her ankle and would need to see an orthopedist.
I picked her up at school and she held back the tears as she hobbled on her crutches to the car. Through sobs she told me that the coach said she could finish her tryout once she was cleared by a Physical Therapist. My heart broke for her. I wanted so badly for her to be on a sports team going into her freshman year. It just wasn’t in the cards. She did 5 weeks of physical therapy and did complete her tryout, but sadly the coach didn’t even give her any time in a game during that tryout to see what she was capable of. The season was nearly over at that point anyway, and swim team would be starting, getting her back to her passion.
High school swim has been an awesome experience so far. I can see her building strong friendships and enjoying the team camaraderie. She and her brother hosted a Christmas party at our house for the team, and there was so much laughter erupting from the family room the entire night, it was so fun to hear from upstairs.
I’m so proud of her for making such a big decision, and for taking the chance on a new sport she’d never played before. I know the years ahead in high school will be filled with many challenges, but I know she has the strength and smarts to get through them. She has good friends who care about her, and I’m confident they’ll look out for each other as they continue to grow up together.
Instead of thinking too far ahead, like when she’ll be behind the wheel, I’m trying to stay in the moment. Trying to take as many pictures as she’ll let me. And I’ll continue to fight to stay up late to be there for her whenever she needs me. For now, I celebrate the beautiful, intelligent, creative and talented young woman she’s become.
Happy Birthday, Vivian. I love you.