Sometimes you have all the feelings, on all the things and they just keep swirling around and you never wrap your brain around them. That has pretty much been my adult life with five kids. SO. MANY. FEELINGS.
Last weekend we moved our baby girl to college. Her main goal from the time she started swimming was to swim in college. Since I have been home from moving her in UGA, all I want to do is to lie down but life must go on. The journey has been exhausting. The highs and lows so extreme. Here’s a highlight reel of the LONG 12 year journey.
Annie grew too fast and was super klutzy. She loved playing soccer but spent more time pummeling people and falling down. She had this crazy competitive drive and her doctor suggested getting her into swimming that would be safer for everyone! I can only doggy paddle so I was at a loss about how to do that.
As fate would have it, I ran into my Young Life leader and was catching her up on my fam. She happened to be a beginner swim coach at the nearby swim club. She had Annie come to her back yard and learn the strokes. Her son was a college swimmer and on Annie’s first lesson, she stopped, went inside to her get her son who was home to watch Annie’s backstroke. Her little arms looked like propellers. I’ll never forget what she said that day, “Watching Annie swim, is like watching water ballet!” This cracked me up because Annie secretly dropped herself out of ballet class when she was 4 years old!
As Annie grew as a swimmer, I see how God brought coaches into her life at the right time. Coach Lisa was one of those coaches. She was stationed at Mayport and took Annie and her swim friend Evan under her wing. She is such a huge part of training them to be college swimmers. She is the one who told us about qualifying times for higher level meets and that Annie had several. We were not aware at the time but she traveled with both our families to big meets on her own dime because she saw their talent. She bought Annie her first tech suit because her clueless parents didn’t even know there was such a thing. She would take the kids to the base to train in their amazing long course pool. Coach Lisa became a part of our forever swim family. She has moved all over the world but still shows up for our kids. I look forward to seeing her soon at the UGA meets cheering for our girl!
When Annie was a young champion breaststroker we left at the crack of dawn and drove her and Bubba to Miami for a swim meet in the morning and a basketball game in the afternoon. We watched the Miami swimmers come out in their college logoed gear, the parkas, the caps and the SHOES!!! Always the shoes!
Dan lost his mind when I said I wanted to get a picture of Annie with the swim team and he was like please (insert eye roll). Has he learned nothing about me? God always helps me with this type of thing. I went to the bookstore next to the pool and he called me (I’m sure annoyed) and said that there was a swim mom getting a team picture and this might be my opportunity. The college girls were so sweet to Annie and hyped her up about swimming. We dreamed that one day she could swim at the U. Welp, she got faster and faster and surpassed that program at the time. June 15, 2021 was the day all hell broke loose for recruiting. The first school that contacted her was Miami at 12am. It was a moment for me because I know my Daddy was hanging over the balconies of heaven proud as a peacock (or an Ibis :) that his beloved school was recruiting his granddaughter. Man I miss him.
It was a tough winding road to get her to UGA. Learning all the things. So much praying about what to do. Changing swim clubs, changing schools, surviving the Covid shut down while trying to maintain her training, too much stress and anxiety to say the least. I can now look back at the trials and tribulations and see God’s hand helping us through it all but man it makes me cringe to think back. Random things were actually divine appointments. My brother in law harassed me for YEARS, that I had to move Annie to a new swim club in Ponte Vedra because the coach was legit and he was building a new pool.
I couldn’t fathom moving her because she was having such success. I partnered with a tennis coach and he introduced me to Coach Gus Calado…the same coach my brother-in-law wanted us to meet! It was destiny! I mentioned my daughter swam and he was like great. Then he watched a video of her IM and said a strong expletive and then started telling me where she could cut time with her technique. Dan took her for a private lesson and the rest was history. IMMEDIATELY she was cutting so much time because he coached her for her individual skill set. I was so nervous like a junior high girl moving her to a new swim club. Annie was determined like a boss lady and so brave…much more than I was. The Planet Swim families were so welcoming to us. They were thrilled because with Annie they would now have a relay team! Those first families helped grow that swim team from a handful of swimmers to a high level, respected swim program. Annie was meant to find Coach Gus.
I won’t even start about the recruiting process. I won’t even get into what it does to the athlete. A wise friend of an older swimmer told me the perfect analogy…it’s like going through Sorority Rush on steroids. That was an understatement. I have never been so thankful for Dan who prepped Annie, our only introvert child, how to deal with the onslaught. It was not for the faint of heart. I sure wish it didn’t start so young and without parent involvement. Annie got to know so many wonderful coaches along the way but “breaking up” with them when decision time came almost broke her.
Our family has always loved the Dawgs but that school seemed out of reach for Annie. Well, she had a break out swim at states the fall of her junior year and that elevated her to another level. She had verbally committed and was at peace with her decision until the coaches she connected with left the program. I almost died when she popped out one day that she wasn’t sure anymore that’s where she wanted to go…..I freaked out and not because I already had every spirit wear item that existed. I freaked out because the process was so hard on her and I dreaded opening the door again BUT…her wise Daddy supported her and helped her through the ordeal.
When we arrived in Georgia, it was a different world. Dan and I had personal notes from the coaches and they immediately made us feel a part of the Dawg family. You could feel the priority and support that all athletic teams have at UGA. Sitting at the football game, and seeing a runner on the screen about the upcoming swim meet blew our mind. We were so honored to have a personal tour from the legend Coach Harvey who had me crying multiple times on the tour about the Dawg legacy. I had no idea that the University of Georgia received their charter in 1785, making UGA the first chartered public university in the United States. My extreme patriotism and love of history was soaring!
As fate would have it, there was a coaching change and a Brazilian coach who was a UGA Alum and a backstroke specialist was hired right before we visited. Coach Fernando felt like home for us since Annie had been coached by several Brazilian coaches at Planet Swim. She had even worked on learning some Portuguese so she would know what the coaches were saying about the swimmers on the pool deck. :) It took me about 10 minutes on campus to text my coworker and tell her that I didn’t know what Annie was going to decide but I was going to be a Dawg. I told her to pack up our offices and head to Athens LOL!!
Thankfully I was out of town at a conference the day Annie was going to make her decision. I could not have handled the stress. I will never forget the text message I got from her…”Imma gonna be a Dawg!” I think I started ordering UGA spirit wear in the next 10 seconds!! Needless to say, we had an extreme Dawg Christmas last year!
On the national signing day, our sweet swim team mom helped plan a precious time for Annie at her home pool. She would be a part of the school ceremony with all the athletes but they wanted to recognize Annie individually and her accomplishments. A relative of the family who the UGA pool is named after came and spoke about the history of the pool. Childhood friends, family, coaches and swim team families honored our girl and we felt so blessed.
As a mom, you are proud of weird things that no one knows. I have flashbacks of my baby girl who I worried so much about. I have trauma from all the things she has gone through that can still make me cry. As I listened to her give speech after speech this past year at all the things, I marveled at the faithfulness of God. From a baby child that was never suppose to talk to this amazing young lady who is articulate and poised. Proud doesn’t encompass my feelings. Shock and Awe is more accurate.
I am thankful to Maggie who drove with Annie to UGA. You can always count on Mags to bring the hysteria and fun. She helped slap Annie’s massive, private room together like a boss lady and walked the bazillion hills with her fit self with no problem. I am annoyed that she wouldn’t let me spend more time and money in the LARGE UGA spirit store inside Walmart but it’s probably for the best so we will have money for food!
We are so excited to be a part of the Dawg family and so thankful to Coach Stef for making this possible for our baby girl. We promise to show up, to volunteer, to pray, to cheer with all our hearts and to squeeze every ounce of joy out of the next four years. I know life is a blur as I turned off that blasted country song “Don’t Blink” two times on our trip to Athens. I determined for us not to make this sad but to have a ball and we did. Dan even fit in a golf game at the UGA golf course with his new best friend Brandon!
I am filled with so much expectation of all the goodness to come. Will it be hard? Of course but our Baby girl works harder than anyone I’ve seen and has always stood alone if necessary to stay focused. I would love to give Dan and I credit for her awesomeness but I know myself too well. It’s all Jesus. I admire her strength, grit and resilience that I don’t possess. I'll never forget a swim mom offer me a Xanax right before Annie swam as a young swimmer. Lord the swims that had me all stressed out! We have leaned on Jesus and the prayers of so many.
As a family, we are beyond grateful to all the countless people who have encouraged, hyped, helped, cheered, prayed, coached and loved our precious baby girl. Dan’s face says it all in the face time pic of Annie showing us her first college UGA swim cap. We ALL worked hard for that cap. The amount of time we spent driving her twice a day all over this city for her to swim was massive but a true privilege to spend that large amount of time with her. Although we did suffer from extreme road rage on occasion that I am sorry about but I wouldn’t trade that time for the world! We have confidently turned her over to the UGA swim program and truly believe the best is yet to come! Go Sic ‘Em Baby Girl and Go Dawgs!!
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