I grew up in the water and truly love swimming. The water, my high-school swim team, the lake where I grew up in Upstate NY are all part of my soul. The XXX Summer Olympics reminds me of how much I loved being part of my swim team. We trained with dedication and if you were a swimmer you embraced crazy practice schedule, thousands upon thousands of yards swim practices, paper suits, soar shoulders, chlorine smelling skin and constantly having wet hair.

The Olympics have reminded me how fun it is to keep in touch with old swim buddies and easy thanks to text message and FB. Growing up in a small town that had a remarkable swim record I connected with girls at an early age who loved to swim. Some of whom I spent pre-school through senior year of high school together. We had swim lesson’s every year in gym class (yes we had a pool and swim lessons as part of gym, amazing I now know), went to modified championships and varsity championships, we went to state qualifications and states that made us nervous while winning medals and sharing tears when beat at the last second.

I can’t wait to jump in a pool and swim some laps. A little slower than when I was a real swimmer. But the love for water will always be within me.

Sharing my favorite XXX Summer Olympics commercial: