This weekend revolves around Claire and her activities. Today was a continuation of her swim meet from last night but before she could go swim she went to dance with her competition dance team. We raced from venue to venue and did a quick change in between. Weekends revolving around Claire rarely happen so when it does I am usually happy for her. Normally weekend activities revolve around the boys’ hockey schedules with anything Claire needs to do squashed in between.

Claire and her dance team rocked their competition today. They did a fantastic job and they were rewarded with a Platinum score and a first place trophy. She and her team were on cloud nine. They deserved to be there, they worked hard and it has paid off for them.

We sprinted off to her swim meet as soon as the awards for dance were over. Claire seemed relaxed and happy as we drove to the pool. The two events she was swimming were her best two events, the 50 butterfly and the 50 backstroke. She was .3 seconds away from the A time in her butterfly. She and I fully expected her come away with the coveted “A” time. But it was not to be today. She added time in both events and had a huge meltdown after the 50 fly. I almost had to pull her out of the 50 backstroke because she couldn’t pull herself together. In the end, I learned she felt too much pressure to perform in these events. I wish I had known how much pressure she had building inside of her before she swam. She puts so much pressure on herself to perform and perform well. If I had known, I think I could have helped calm her wicked nerves.

After all was said and done, I told her I feel the same way when I feel tremendous pressure to perform at a certain level. I also told her she and I are going to have to learn to work through pressure filled competition together. I think we can help each other learn some good techniques.

I hope I learn some good techniques to help calm pressure filled nerves soon so I can help Claire as she has these kind of days.

Oh, for the love of Claire…