Hi I'm new!!!

Hey y'all! I'm new to the board--well, I've been lurking, but I finally decided to get an account and post. :) I'm seriously considering starting to swim masters. I swam competitvely when I was a child, but I quit when I got to be a junior in high school (I'm 30 now). I did some lap swimming off and on through college as most of my jobs involved the pool (life guard, swim instructor, asst pool manager, asst swim coach). In November, I started swimming laps regularly. I try to swim 3x a week--which can be difficult since I work full time and I'm in grad school part time (taking 2 classes)--but I always manage 2x. Anyway, I was swimming over Christmas break, and that's when I realized how much I miss swimming and miss competing. I have struggled with whether or not I am ready to begin swimming masters yet for almost a month now. At first, I told myself that I wasn't ready because I can't do a 100 fly without wanting to die at the end. I am able to swim 500 yds without stopping. The workouts that I do (ones that I've found online) are between 2,500-3,000 yds, and I swim for about an hour. What kind of yardage should someone who is swimming/practicing be able to swim? How do you know if you are "ready" or not? I definitely don't think that I'm ready for meets yet, but I would like to start practicing with a team. Thanks for your suggestions!!! Take care!