Oxford, Shaving Cream, and Happiness

So it is roughly 2 in the morning and I am in the Baymont Hotel in Oxford, Ohio finally taking in all that has happened to me this weekend and the last four years.  My collegiate swimming career came to a grand end tonight, well today actually, in lane 8 of the Corwin Aquatics Center of The University of Miami - OH.  We broke the school record, I split my best 100 split ever, but none of that mattered.  I got out and didn't even really register the time.  It was one of those times where you are looking at something, wanting to read it, but you just keep looking at it acting like you read it.  I couldn't tell you the time if you asked me.  I just know everyone was happy we broke the record, and I was just happy.

There are points in everyones life that are vividly remembered years down the road.  For many it is things like their first kiss, 16th birtday, graduation.  And when those moments happen, they are instant classics.  You know that they will stick with you for the rest of your life.  Tonight, they marched the seniors out before finals started, introducing each of us.  When we reached the bulkhead we were greeted by our coach with a gift.  In our case it was a bag of peanut M & M's, which i devoured before the meet was over.  But when Lance greeted me with the candy, we hugged like many of the swimmers did.  He said the usual 'nice job man,' with my reply of 'thanks coach.'  After that, as I started walking away we made eye contact and it was like time stopped.  And in the video taken, you can see the genuine happiness in my face.  On this team where everything is a competition, I felt for the first time that I had accomplished something.  I have gotten many handshakes and high fives along the way.  Even a few hugs.  But this look trumped all of those.

The meet went well, though.  My 50s were off a bit though, which at any other meet would have made it a bad one.  But this meet wasn't about times.  I had swam my times to get here, this was about fun for me.  Before my events I was excited, but it was an excitement because I was swimming at Nationals.  Not because we were on the bubble of making finals, or going to swim a personal best, but because I have experienced what the goal of every collegiate swimmer is.

After the meet, we went out to eat and for once I didn't really do much talking.  It is still kind of a surreal thing, to think that from here on out I won't really be swimming for a team but swimming for myself.  And that is something new to me.  I don't really know how that will play out.  I feel like I am hard worker, there are harder workers though for sure.  And most of the times I feel like I only work hard because it is what I owe to the team.  But when you take the team aspect away, I like to just get by.  School is an excellent example of that (refer to the previous blog about my senior paper).

Anyway, this meet easily ranks on my top 10 list of experiences.  Probably between scoring my first touchdown and changing the oil in my car for the first time.  And the moment that me and Lance shared, well I just hope that everyone is able to feel that sense of accomplishment at some point in their life.