Maybe I’ll Order Some More Markers.
A story about swimming and stuff.
Last week, I talked about feeling terrible in the process of tapering off a migraine medicine. The brain pain really sucked and it got worse before it got better. There were days last week when it was hard to even feed my dogs correctly because I couldn’t concentrate well enough to complete the simple task of getting the right food in the right bowl. I couldn’t accomplish much of anything, really. It was really frustrating, and I mainly focused on holding on because I knew it had to resolve, unless it was something far more sinister than Duloxetine withdrawal.
Thankfully, by Friday, the clouds began to clear, and that was great timing because I was beginning three days of outdoor artistic swimming in a row in the sweltering summer heat.
On Friday, my daughter competed with her regular synchro teammates, and it was a fun and successful day, although devastatingly sweaty. She won or came in 2nd in her events, which was awesome! The ride home was ridiculous as Google Maps tried to take us around a bunch of traffic on the interstate and instead took us on a circuitous route through rural(ish) Florida. But honestly, my husband, daughter, and I actually kind of enjoyed looking at cows and ponies and the town of Antioch, which seems to have a single blinking stoplight. Sometimes it’s good to take a step off the beaten path.
When I got home, I realized that I felt a lot more like myself than I had in weeks. Maybe I sweated the last of the medication out. That’s probably not true, but it seemed like a good way to think about it. I washed this painful time in my life away from the inside out, and I do not wish to repeat that experience.
Saturday involved coaching the youngest girls who would be competing in their first meet on Sunday. And Sunday was the longest, hottest day in the world (trust me on this), but those little girls did a great job. Overall, it was a positive experience, although don’t get me started on how they ran out of pizza and I was saved from no lunch by a nice parent. I figured that I must have looked pretty rough after the fifth person offered to get me water or to have me sit in the AC to take a break. At first I thought everyone was just really nice and then I thought, “Oh crap, do I look like I’m dying? Maybe I’m dying!”
It turned out that I wasn’t dying, which was pretty nice.
My daughter and those of her teammates who attended to compete in the “open” category had a good time swimming more creatively than usual, without the confines of typical scoring expectations. She and her good friend (an excellent swimmer who competes for Texas Women’s University) choreographed a duet to a song called “Slipping through my Fingers” from Mamma Mia!
The lyrics are:
Schoolbag in hand, she leaves home in the early morning
Waving goodbye with an absent-minded smile
I watch her go with a surge of that well-known sadness
And I have to sit down for a while
The feeling that I'm losing her forever
And without really entering her world
I'm glad whenever I can share her laughter
That funny little girl
Slipping through my fingers all the time
I try to capture every minute
The feeling in it
Slipping through my fingers all the time
Do I really see what's in her mind
Each time I think I'm close to knowing
She keeps on growing
Slipping through my fingers all the time
(By ABBA, writers: Benny Goran Bror Andersson, Bjoern K. Ulvaeus)
It was beautiful and touching and they wound up winning the whole thing, but the best part was that they took something they adore and excel at and used it to show their love for the sport, for a long friendship, and for their moms who took them to a million practices and supported them as they grew from determined little girls to accomplished young women. It was a work of art, and it’s amazing how art can express emotion in ways that words can sometimes fall short.
Thankfully, after those two made us teary-eyed as they age out of the traditional artistic swimming Junior Olympic system, another absolutely adorable pair of 11-year-old teammates swam their own duet, with music they edited on their own using iPad software and choreography they created all by themselves. They swam to a far less emotional song from Bluey (are there emotional songs from Bluey?) and they sparkled with joy and excitement while sharing their creation. It was entirely different in tone but similarly impressive and powerful because the girls had created something of their own from nothing at all and made it big enough to show off to a crowd of people and to make those people smile. They even came away with a 4th-place award for their efforts!
There’s no doubt in my mind that these young women are better for these experiences. I’m sure that older women and men would also be better for the experience of creating something joyful or emotional for no real reason other than the experience of it. Once we “grow up,” we often forget that the process can be more important and more valuable than the outcome. In fact, life is really just a series of processes, so it seems like packing them full of joy and creativity is the way to go. And, in an interesting turn of events, creating art (even if you have to put the word “art” in quotes because you don’t believe that you are an artist) can help you process your emotions and free yourself from the weight of unexpressed feelings. Seems like a win all around.
Shop with Me
Okay, so I did buy more markers, but only because I was forced to go on Amazon to buy these shorts for this summer’s Junior Olympics. I’m not sure why we needed new shorts for our swimmers who will mostly be wearing their fancy custom suits or their official team gear, but after the markers jumped in my cart, I’m less mad about it.
Last week I got this set of Sharpie markers at what seems to be a really good deal. I used them for the black lines in my recent two drawings, and even though I really like my black brush pens, how great is it that the permanent markers keep the colors from getting all muddy and stuff? Plus, these are just regular Sharpies and therefore have the traditional house uses.
Also, if you are like me and always looking for the next shirt that doesn’t look terrible on you, I just got this one and a couple of the colors are on hella sale right now! It seems like a nice shirt and the gathers on the side are cute and might make me look a little less like a chick who is swimming in her t-shirt. WIN.
I also recently got this shirt when it was marked down and it’s really nice too. Right now, it is full price and I would not pay $28 for it. But the army green one is 50% off and THAT’S a good deal.
If you need some snacks for your pup, these Milk Bones that I break up and serve as “go to your crate” biscuits are currently 20% off. They are a good buy even when not on sale but the math is definitely in your favor now!
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