A busy Saturday

So my Saturday started while it was still dark out.  My daughter, Emily, had a USS swim meet about an hour away and warm ups started at 7:30.  We had to be on the road by 6:15 if we wanted to make a McD's run before we got on the road.  When we got in the car we realized the roads were  a complete mess!  It had snowed the night before and there was a lot of ice forming on the roads because of the drop in temps.  We got to the pool a few minutes late to find out that the meets start time had been pushed back due to the weather. 

Emily had an amazing meet!  She swam 100 freestyle, 50 breaststroke, and 100 backstroke.  She is a great long distant swimmer!  On the 100 Free she managed to drop 9 seconds off of her personal best time.  That is a huge amount of time to drop on a single race.  I think some of it was the fact that she and I watched her video from the previous meet and determined that her stroke hasn't changed to accommodate the 6 inches she has grown in the last  six months.  We talked about lengthening her stroke and stretching a bit, instead of short strokes.  When she applied that principle to her race she dropped 9 seconds.  Now if only she could learn to do her flip turns!  On her breaststroke race she dropped 4 seconds, which is a huge amount for a two length race!  She has been really working on gliding more during the stroke, rather then quickly pulling over and over again.  It is amazing how swimming a slower stroke can really make you go faster.  Once she figured out that fact she started to really improve her stroke!

After the swim meet we went to lunch at P.F. Chang's and had an awesome meal! 

Then, I was thrilled to get to spend the afternoon and evening with some of the best ladies I know...my SAI sisters!  Sigma Alpha Iota is a Professional Fraternity for Women.  I was initiated in Dec. of 1991 and remained throughout my entire undergrad experience.  At the time I had no idea that group of women would be such a support group for me as an adult.  We had lost track of one another through the years, like most people our age, and have just recently reconnected via Facebook.  Last year, one of our sisters (Laura Hesselbacher Lekan) passed away due to cancer.  It really made us face our mortality and the way we were living our lives.  We spent the day of her funeral eating, drinking and laughing together....reconnecting on a much higher level then in college.  We all have families of our own now and are desperately trying to hold onto these "new" friendships while juggling our kids and husbands. 
This Saturday was the one year anniversary of her funeral.  Some of us decided to try and get together for an afternoon and evening of fun.  We never want to lose touch with each other again and made sure to have an amazing time.  After sitting around eating, drinking and laughing we made our way to "drag queen bingo" in Royal Oak.  What an hysterical night!  It is definitely something I want to do again!!

I was in the car for a total of about 8 hours total on Saturday but it was all worth it!  Thank you Emily for an awesome swim meet and thank you ladies for an amazing evening!!  Love you all!!