Fighting Barracudas (A Tribute To Carmen)

As you know this summer we signed Rooney up for swim team at the country club where we live.  We thought this was a great opportunity for Rooney to expand on his swimming skills,we could get to know our neighbors and Rooney could earn a trophy which he desperately wanted.

The season was great.  Thankfully the Itty Bitty Barracudas were non-competitive exhibition only races.  We only had to attend home meets and the Itty Bittys always swam first. This is really nice when you have a baby and the meets are around dinner time.  Along the way through the swim season I hit along alot of emotions.  Excitement, trepidation, disappointment, frustration, pride, relaxation, and happiness.  Beside becoming comfortable at our community pool we met alot of great people.  I didn't always think that was true but midway through something happened.  One day I was sitting watching Rooney practice pool side.  I liked to sit close because a month or so prior I had to pull a kid out of the water.  He was close to the steps but couldn't get back to them without going under water.  I grabbed him and pulled him back onto the steps.  It wasn't too big of a deal but it made me want to keep a close eye.  So I am watching Rooney from the lounge chairs that line the pool.  Since the Coaches have the kids sit on the steps in the shallow end while they take individual kids out in the deeper water of the pool, I had to turn to the left.  While Ailbs and I are watching Rooney do his thing in the water a woman comes along and starts to talk with her friend who was on my left.  The woman is decently tall and her young daughter has a huge backpack on her back.  Of course since I have to watch the practice from an angle on my left they are standing smackdab in my way.  I assume the chit chat will be quick and then they will move on.  That didn't happen.  The two women are in a full on conversation, the daughter is now involved and dancing around with her huge backpack and the longer the talking goes on the more irritated I become.  I really couldn't believe how rude some people could be.  Eventually I get up, probably making a big huff as I have to unlock the wheels of Ailbe's stroller and move my bags, and move over to the right which gets the lady and her daughter mostly out of my range but then they walk away.  Ugh! 

Practice went on fine without too many obstacles when I see the woman, her daughter with the backpack and another older girl come out of the locker room and walk up to the edge of the pool.  I heard the woman (whom I will now call "the mom") ask Rooney's coach while pointing at Rooney "Is this Rooney?".   Of course I am thinking 'What the?" but then the mom proceeds to introduce her older daughter Carmen to Rooney and said she was the Swim Buddy we had signed up for at the beginning of the season.  Doh! 

It turns out this women and her daughters, who I thought were incredibly rude, are the sweetest people.  For Rooney's first swim meet with Carmen as his buddy she brought him a toy diving shark she purchased for him in Florida before they met.  The mom, Caroline, always came over to say hi to me and tell me how cute and great Rooney was.  She would cheer for him during the meet and took all but one of these pictures for us.  She said Carmen took her duties as Swim Buddy very seriously and she did a great job getting Rooney to the block on time and introducing him to the Coaches for the older kids (evidently some of them wanted to meet this kid Rooney).  

I am so thankful for Carmen and Caroline and I'm so glad that my original impression was not true at all.  As a matter of fact I feel really guilty for even being put out to begin with.  I'm pretty sure we will be signing Rooney up again next summer for Swim Team and we have already confirmed with Carmen we will ask for her again.  So a swim season that started as a frustrating and overwhelming experience really turned into a great season and Rooney EARNED the trophy he received.