Rewards...

We had a swim meet this afternoon - so after a normal (read: crazy, it is middle school, after all) day I hopped into the car and headed over to the local high school pool to watch and cheer.  I must admit - going to the pool is not my favorite...I hated bathing suits (still do), have had little (if any) personal experiences with swim meets, and the heat and humidity of the pool always cause me to wonder if my struggle with menopause is well under way.

As I rolled into the parking lot, and raced towards the pool, I could hear the crowd cheering from outside of the building.  I scrambled up to the spectator seats - and posted myself where I could cheer the swimmers as they headed to their blocks.  I cheered for our Yellow Jackets - and really for all of the brave students who got into the pool to compete, and, there were some students that could barely get to the other end of the pool.  I cheered loudest, though, for my sweet nephew, against whose team we were competing.

After his first race, I waved at him and he flashed me a huge smile of recognition and pleasure.  A few minutes later I was flattered to hear him call, "Hey, Aunt EM!" I glanced below and there he was with some of his teammates.  He had mentioned to me recently that he thinks it's cool that I'm a Middle School Assistant Principal, and I'm so thankful, as not every middle schooler would think that was great.  As I waved, he turned to his friends and said, "See, I told you so!" They all smiled up at me, slightly awed, and waved.