The little things that make me smile at Swim Meets...

Meeting your friends' children. Kids are fascinating to talk to since they seem to inhabit a place that varies between stark, absolutist reality and a state of borderline insanity. Since we have no kids :( it is a welcome chance to interact. (And then they go home with someone else when they get tired/crabby.) -LBJ

Knowing that we have the chance/opportunity to be able to compete in swim meets.

Watching one of the officials graciously help a lady up onto the blocks, so she didn't have to start from the edge of the pool. :applaud:

Thank god. Now I can stop sobbing on my keyboard since I'm a real teammate. If you really loved me and I was sobbing, you should give up that 50 back to hold my hand! :rofl: You're not even a sprinter anyway. But if you want to learn to move your arms fast, you have to get therapy for your engine building addiction and start doing 25s, sista. I might swim the 50 back at Muppet's meet on July 1. Re-match in the same heat? Oh no, I don't get a turn .... only a start? That could be ugly... Fine, teammate. I will swim the 50 back but only if blue muppet does too. I smile also when.... Diving in the pool....arms/legs shaved and in my new fastskin....and just glide effortlessly to the other end of the pool. My non-swimming friends show up just to cheer. And to them my times don't matter and I am a rock star no matter what. My Mom wears pink (everything pink, even her shoes) because she know that pink is my favorite color and it's the last day of the meet and I'm tired, but the 100 back is that day and she LOVES the 100 back. I almost scratched it at a meet a few weeks ago and when I told her she replied..."but that's my favorite event, please just do it for me!" How can you say "no" to that?!?!?

... Having my daughter count for my 500 ... ... after lap 13 having my daughter signal that I was behind my planned pace (even though I was well ahead) by shaking the lap counter progessively more vigorously, because she wanted to see how fast I could really swim.

Great thread Rich... Mine are watching my teammates (and other swimmers) scribble their events on their hands at meets (like when we did when we were age groupers) - it makes me giggle. The next one is the smile you get when someone doesn't have a lap counter for the 500 (and up) - and you go over and count for them - and they smile at you - I love that. And finally, I love it when I see my teammates improving and they are so happy when they finish their race... it's a blast. -Sarah

. . . having your teammates *tatoo* eachother on face, arm, shoulder, thigh, anywhere, with the scratch on tatoos . . . drawing sharks, fish, teeth, Go Team!, It's Miller Time, etc. over teammates' entire back in permanent multi-color marker (hey, if the kids can do it, why can't we?) . . . beating someone 10 years younger and 40 pounds lighter than you, especially when your one thigh is the size of their torso - in any event . . . realizing that there is not an additional $10 fee for heat sheets . . . no prelims and finals! . . . looking at the heat sheets and seeing that you're sandwhiched between two arch nemesises and knowing it will be an exciting race - win or lose . . . not having to worry about your coach yelling at you after a bad swim :rofl: . . . having your coach hand you your ribbons after the meet . . . eating fun dip and Nerds candy with no remorse . . . trying your best to win a race for your retired parents who are watching in the stands . . . wondering if it's possible to swim a freestyle race with your fastskin which happens to have a hole in the crotch (reluctantly decided against that) . . . asking the official if you can please swim with the men in the 200 fly when there are no other female entries