Go Gators!

For those of you don't already know, Ruth is a full-fledged member of our neighborhood swim team. From the very first meeting, we understood this group is pretty hard-core. But, at today's first regular practice of the year, we realized that we take our swimming pretty serious around these parts.

When we left the house for practice, it was lightly raining, and I prepared Ruth for the certain fate of practice being cancelled. But, she insisted we drive over to the pool, just in case. Well, it wasn't raining too hard when we arrived at the pool, and parents and children were disembarking from their vehicles and entering and exiting the pool area with a flourish, so it seemed to still be game on. Most of the parents, I might add, had monstrous umbrellas with them, which seemed to be a little in the overkill department to me. For about 5 minutes.

Just as Ruth stepped nervously into her place in line in lane 1, the bottom fell out of the sky. And I began to wish that I had a humongous umbrella of my own, or at least that I had already made friends with one of the other mothers with a giant umbrella. I thought certainly they would send the kids back to their now-soaking parents--(even those with umbrellas couldn't avoid the deluge). But the next thing I knew, the coach was sending the first group of kids plunging into the frigid pool. That's when I learned that you don't call off practice just for rain. There must be lightning.

Then, the phone rang. It was Jeff, asking if practice was still on. He was slightly concerned, since the power had just gone off at our house, less than a mile away. Still, the kids made their way, as best they could, from one end of that never-ending pool to the other.

And then, someone found a snake in the baby pool. And still, the show went on. Until finally, there was undeniable rumbling in the sky and the threat of lightning was firmly upon us. Only then, did the drenched parents gather up their shivering children and call it a day. It's no wonder the Gators are the reigning swimming champs in this area.

*Really, we were only there about 20 minutes and truly it didn't seem dangerous--and no practice is required, so we never have to go if we don't want to-- but I was surprised to see how "all in" these people are.