I have the privilege of meeting lots of different people
over the course of a year. This last year I have had an intern from ASU who is
also a competitive swimmer. She is from the east coast where swimming isn’t as
popular as in the valley of the sun. What is amazing about Melanie was how
quickly she fell in love with one of our little kids, Ruby. It wasn’t too long
before they became a pair. Ruby doesn’t have any brothers or sister and lost
her dad at a really young age. Melanie became this older special friend and
sister to her over the last year.
This last weekend we were able to watch Melanie compete
against another college’s team on a lazy Saturday afternoon. What made this day
special was that I could bring Ruby and a few of her friends to watch Melanie
compete. I’m not sure that any of them really understood what was involved with
being a swimmer who had a scholarship for college because of all of your
training and ability. We watched our Melanie from up top on this massive arena
as she won each of her different heats. She made it look so easy.
The special treat for us was meeting her parents who were
out from the cold east coast to watch their daughter compete. What was
inspirational was to hear how her involvement with New City had touched her
life. What we were quick to say it was Melanie and her commitment to Ruby that
had made a huge difference for our work. Little do most of our kids, teens or
volunteers know what amount of time it takes Melanie to practice each week in
addition to her classes and then her life outside!
I had done a lesson with my guy’s group about one of the
Olympic gold medal guys from Canada whose inspiration in his life is his older
brother who has MS. The great picture from the Olympics was these two brothers
together, holding up their country’s flag. I had listened to a couple of
interviews with Alex talking about his brother Fredrick. He mentioned how
Fredrick had inspired him to never quit and keep trying regardless of
circumstances. I watched Alex win a gold medal and could see his brother on the
sideline screaming out for his brother.
What struck me as I listened to Melanie’s parents talk about
their swimming journey was that neither of them swam and that it was a friend
that drug her to the pool at a young age. I was a swim team parent for a few
years so I know how much practice and involvement is required for the swimmer
and their family. My hope for my kids, especially our Ruby, is to help them see
that they too can inspire someone to go beyond their normal life expectations.
It does take a lot of practice, determination and hard work to get to the Olympics
but it can happen. What was so amazing about watching Alex get his gold and
Melanie winning her heat was the people that were standing behind them cheering
them to the finish!
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