wednesday: a's mom (m)

Sitting in the bleachers...Day 3 of the longest week.  Watching H practice with his competitors.  It's nerve-wracking.  Every mother is checking out the other kids her son will face in this competition.   They smile, but their smiles are taut.  This sport is so individualized that for your son to do well, you almost have to root for the others to fail.

I am sitting there, pretending to read a book, chewing sugarless gum and shaking my right leg like crazy.  Nervous energy.  I briefly wonder how many points I will burn off from doing this.  It's only practice, but I'm nervous for H as he is now competing at a high level and most of the guys are 18-20 years old.  He's 16.  I can tell from across the ice that most of them shave.

All of a sudden, a striking blonde in short shorts and a t-shirt walks over to the stands.  She looks familiar, but I can't place her.

Then she speaks to me:  "You're Harrison's mom, right?"  I nod.  "You've lost alot of weight...you look great!"

I remember her.  Both her son and daughter are skaters.  Her son competes with Harrison and her daughter is a national medalist and just missed the Olympic team.  Her daughter is outstanding.

I apologize to the mother, M, for not recognizing her.  She looks thinner, too, I tell her.

"I row crew now.  I had to make weight for the boat". 

We both start talking about that.  She's 5'7" and is down to 130 pounds.  She said she feels like a teenager again.  She didn't say what she weighed before, but she must have lost 20 pounds but more importantly, is extremely toned.

I told her about Harrison's saga with losing weight for crew, WW for me.  We laughed and shared stories.

I told her I used to row back in college and loved it.

She challenged me to go back to it again.  I told her when I lose more weight, I will give it some thought.

"Do it now," she said.

I nodded, pretending to consider it.  I think I would sink the boat at this point, but in 30 pounds, I might sign up for rowing outdoors.

Something to thinking about.