Watch out, Natalie Coughlin!

Lily is five years old. During this summer it seems like she's growing up super fast. It's like she had a growth spurt, only emotionally, not physically. She still has bumps in the road and trying moments everyday, but she is now much more a young lady and much less a young child.

One thing that has clicked for her this summer is learning to swim. Obviously she's always been a water child. She is more herself in the water than any place else. But this week she has been in her first structured swimming lesson since April. During this latest session, something clicked. She is swimming the backstroke like she could swim it in a meet tomorrow (and she would if I let her). She's also really starting to get the freestyle (front crawl), but it's still a bit hard because she's worried about getting water in her nose. She also does cool tricks, like dive in the deep end to get a ring off the bottom of the pool and she spins somersaults under water.

If you knew me at all, you would know that I'm a swimmer to the core. I grew up in the pool. I learned about life, love and boys at swim practice. When I think of my childhood, past 1991, my fondest memories revolve around swim team and my friends there. I would be lying if I said I wasn't super happy that Lily is loving the pool so much. But, I am not getting my hopes up too high. I don't want to burn the poor girl out before she reaches the 11-12 year old age group...but I am going to provide as much opportunity to succeed in the sport as I can. If she wants to be a super swimmer, I am convinced she could be. And, knowing Lily, her sheer determination will serve her well. When you're a swimmer, it's less about talent and more about the working your ass off..if you love it and work hard, you will succeed. I can't wait to see what this girl can do!

P.S. For those of you non-swimmers who read my blog: Natalie Coughlin is the first American female athlete in modern Olympic history to win six medals in one Olympics and the first woman ever to win a 100 m backstroke gold in two consecutive Olympics. (And to give credit where credit is due, I copied that sentence straight from Wikipedia.)