Nearly There

  Just a couple of photos from the beginning of the weekend at Senior State Finals.   Shows Matt exiting my car after a lunch at Lennie's and heading into the pool for his first swim. 

  He swam three swims, not getting  better times than his existing ones in any of the three, so while he was, of course, disappointed, every swimmer reaches a plateau, stays there for a bit and then surges forward with new best times again.  We've been doing this for ten years, so we know the experience well. 

  He was so nearly there on the 50 Free, but just could not take off those final ticks...that said, he dropped time in that swim 2-3 times this past month and that is probably all that was there for a swim of such a short distance.  He had reached a plateau on that last year and it took all year to get a drop, then it was followed by two more, so for that we are thankful.  

  Friday was Matt's 17th birthday, so he picked one of our favorite restaurants in Bloomington for his birthday dinner, the Limestone Grille.  If you haven't been, go...we always have wonderfully prepared food there, never a miss in anything. 

  He had a great time, wearing a new birthday shirt (Taylor had gotten him a black version of this shirt, which he loves, and it does look really good on him, fits very well, etc., and since it is difficult to fit Matt with those large swimming shoulders, I decided he could use another, so he picked out blue, always a good color for him:  I think I will have Taylor do the shopping from now on, she is much better at it than am I). 

  After his last swim on Saturday, he headed down to St. Meinrad for a religious retreat with the Knights of the Holy Templar, a group of high school aged young men who serve their church and community.  Matt was elected President of the Indiana group this year, so he was hoping to get to attend at least part of the retreat after swimming, missing Friday and Saturday morning, but still getting there in time for the rest of Saturday and Sunday.   He always manages to pack a lot into a little amount of time.  I cannot even believe he is 17 already...where did that time go?

   Just time enough to get his laundry done up and his suitcases repacked before he is off again in five days for a week of swimming at Junior Nationals in Washington State.  I cannot even believe the summer is almost over...it barely seems like it just got started, but we are nearly there:  time for school to start again on the 13th...he will miss the first two days being out at the swim meet, so guess he is figuring he can drag summer on just a little longer.