30 girl swimming event on Saturday

Had my 30 girl swimming event on Saturday - my troop plus two smaller ones. It was loud but the girls and the moms had a GREAT time. The girls really behaved well.

I was a little overwhelmed, worried about safety, worried about the gaurds getting stressed, worried about the moms thinking it was all good... BUT the best comments happened at the end - All the girls were clamouring at their leaders... when is the next Brownie meeting? When do we get together again. That made me feel so good.

BUT THIS IS THE BEST
Then right at the end, after Holly and I cleaned all the lifejackets up, put the large foam boards back (HUGE frogs, butterflies, -- this was the favorite part - relay races with them)put the lane line back in, all that fun stuff.... (not) (She also was there an hour early helping me do everything else, get the lane line out, get the noodles ready, greet all the girls.)

Holly looks at me and says, "Mom, you did all this? You planned this big thing all by yourself? How come?"

I looked at her and pointed right at her.

She looks at me - "You did all this for me?"

I looked straight at her again, "Of course I did, I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. I wouldn't be a girl scout leader if it wasn't for you."

She stood really still, and looked me in the eye and said, "Wow." Then she hugged me and said, "Thanks mom."

"No problem" I said -

Thinking back - What I was really thinking is -

No, Holly, thank you. To see you growing up and spending time with you. To know that we have "our thing", is super important to me. So much of our time together is struggling to do homework, working on reading, carting everyone here and there and the time we do spend gets interrupted by the urgent needs of the other kids. You give up so much to be a great big sister to them - I hope you get as much back. You bring so much extra love to our family. Thank you, for being who you are.