He’s gonna be just fine.

If you read Tuesday’s post, you know that Number 3 qualified for Zones, which is a swim meet for the top nine to fourteen-year-old swimmers on the East Coast.

It’s a pretty big honor and opportunity to be able to go.

Before the meet (which is Easter weekend), all swimmers are required to attend one of two zone team practices.

I took Number 3 to the practice which was held tonight.

He was really nervous, and when the kids all walked out to the bleachers to have a meeting with the coaches before the practice started, I kind of had to push him through the doorway to the stands.

I’m not going to lie.

I think I was more nervous than Number 3 was, largely because since Number 3 joined the swim team, for the past three years, I have been his swim coach.

And this was the first time I’d be attending any sort of swim function not as his coach, but as his mom.

I couldn’t say anything or tell him where to go or do anything.

All I could do was sit up in the stands and watch.

It was an uncomfortable experience for me.

But you know what?

It was good for both of us.

Number 3 walked onto the deck really hesitant and not knowing a single person on the team.

While he was in the pool, I got all his gear from one of the volunteers. The kids have team uniforms, just like in the Olympics. It’s pretty cool.

I read the back of one of the team shirts.

How fitting.

When practice was over, Number 3 came back up into the stands.

He had walked onto the pool deck nervous and hesitant and visibly uncomfortable.

An hour and a half later he walked into the stands smiling and confident and talking to another swimmer. He had already made a friend.

He put on his new CT Swimming sweatshirt with a big, proud smile on his face.

We walked to the car and buckled up. As I pulled out of the parking lot, Number 3 said to me, “Mom?”

“Yeah?” I answered.

“Thanks for being such a great swim coach,” he said. “And thanks for being MY swim coach.”

This meet is going to be one of the most amazing and memorable experiences of Number 3’s life.

And that brief little exchange between the two of us, mother and son, swimmer and coach, is definitely one of the most memorable and amazing moments of mine.