We Are The Champions….

This weekend was a long one and not just because Friday was a PD Day for the kids and one of the two swim meets we were commuting to, started on Thursday.

Hanna shuttled back and forth to Toronto and I headed to Windsor with Ellie early Saturday morning for her first ever, long course Regional swim meet. I say “Regional” with an upper case R because if you heard the way my daughter referred to making it to this meet, having tea with the queen or meeting Justin Bieber would be dwarfed by this major cap & goggle accomplishment.

Ellie set to work on a puzzle book of Sudokus I found at Dollarama that kept her busy for the first hour of our three hour commitment to luxury living in the Grand Caravan.

I really only heard from her for things like, “Mom, how can that not be a seven? That has to be a seven. Mom, can you just turn around? What? Oh, wait. Never mind. It’s a four.”

I started to lose my usual radio stations the further the mini-van drifted from the centre of the earth, just another perk like heating and air on just the left side those of you in your fancy, everything-closes-automatically mini-vans wouldn’t understand.

I hit “scan” or “seek” on the dash and the first clear station to have any music was playing Queen’s “We Are The Champions,” so I did what all responsible parent drivers en route to a two day swim meet would do. I cranked the volume and screeched the lyrics at Ellie while she whispered things like, “If a six goes there, then a one must go there.”

“We are the champions my friends…..and we’ll keep on fighting til the end.”

Ellie smirked.

Then I started changing the lyrics to, “Ellie is the champion—of Reeee-gion—als!!!!!”

She giggled and we agreed Mom should stick to finger tapping for the rest of the drive. Ellie was quiet except to ask if we should stop to buy some gummy bears from the on route rest stop because “wouldn’t that just be hilarious to have gummy bears from the on route, Mom?” It was hilarious. And we did.

Between hotel living, restaurant meals, running around with friends at the park, Booster Juice and oh right, swimming, I had one of those goose bump moments as a parent that made me appreciate everything this short visit we had just enjoyed together. In one, deep inhalation–the weekend was over.

We stopped on the drive home to pick up some dinner but Ellie was too tired to eat.

She leaned back in her seat and started to drift when I clicked through the radio to find something to keep me awake for our trek home.

About twenty minutes in, a familiar song came on–Queen’s “We Are The Champions.” I don’t think I’ve heard or thought about that song in over twenty years and now, twice in one weekend.

I could see Ellie in the rear view mirror, eyes closed, breathing deeply. I fought the urge to blast her with our weekend anthem so I hummed quietly to myself until the chorus.

I sang very quietly, “Ellie is the champion……of Regionals…..”

When I flipped the mirror down to check on her, her head was tilted uncomfortably, eyes shut, face pointed towards her swim team sweatshirt, a make-shift pillow tucked under her seat belt. Her mouth started to curl and she slept with a smile on her face for the next several minutes.

Say all you want about kids in competitive sports.

Weekends like these are hard to come by. Treasure every second.

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