Soccer Moms Don’t Have These Problems

When we last left our young heroine – me – STOP LAUGHING!  Are you laughing at the “young” or the “heroine”?  Both?!!!!!  Fine.

When we last left our young heroine – my 9 year old daughter, Dimples – we had just arrived in Irving, Texas after a grueling (okay, it wasn’t as grueling as the time leading up to the ride when we were trying to pack up the car) 6 hour car ride to find that we had forgotten to pack one slightly important item for her two-day synchronized swimming tournament – her swim bag.

I should probably educate you on what is generally in the swim bag of a synchronized swimmer participating in one of these mega events: a black swimsuit, a team swimsuit, at least 4 towels, nose plugs, team warm-up suit, goggles, team swim cap, white swim cap, black flip-flops, and yoga mat.  Some swimmers also pack their knoxing supplies (boxes of Knox gelatin, bobby pins, hairnets, combs, paintbrushes, and cups).

We realized the swim bag had not traveled with us from San Antonio at about 8:30 the night before the competition.  Each of us thought one of the other two family members had put it in the car.

Before I noticed the bag’s absence, and told anyone not to panic, I did a quick mental inventory of what I knew we had.  Fortunately, I had packed the knoxing supplies and towels separately, and had some extra nose clips and goggles.  Not Dimples’ favorite nose clips and goggles, of course, which almost sparked a the first meltdown of the weekend once I made my announcement about the swim bag that had go AWOL.

At least I did not make her wear these nose clips. Can someone explain to me what these are even for?!!!!!! What chance am I missing?  And what the heck is antibiotic deodorization?!!!!! photo credit: gnosis / john r via photo pin cc

For some odd reason that actually seems logical, Dimples packed her suits in her suitcase, instead of her swim bag.  The suitcase somehow made the cut when I was weeding out things that did not really need to ride with us to Dallas, such as the ten receipts from recent veterinary visits.  Lest you think that I have some kind of rational approach to packing, I should also tell you that we brought along enough bottled water to survive a nuclear holocaust and some other extremely important survival items – like my umbrella.  In case it decided to rain at the indoor swimming pool.

Dimples got a new team swim cap at the Team Meeting that night.

The yoga mat has always been a luxury item for which a towel can substitute in a pinch.

That left the white swim cap, which would be needed at 7:30 A.M., and the black flip flops.

After a year of doing this, I have learned that I am the only inept mother in the group.  I was pretty certain every other mom not only had their daughter’s white swim cap, but also brought extras.  I was right.  They also could have given me cases of nose clips or goggles.

Disaster #1 averted.  Mostly. (Our Dallas friends came to the rescue with some black flip flops, fortunately.)

I would like to point out that, although I forgot my daughter’s entire swim bag, guess who was the only mom who had a Sharpie with which to write everyone’s initials on their new team caps?

That’s right – our youngish, heroine, who can always be counted on to remember trivial items.  Me.

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