The Creed

"Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt."

That's the creed of the Special Olympics, and let me tell you, we had the pleasure of watching an awful lot of brave athletes at the Minnesota Special Olympics state swim meet this past weekend! What an amazing event to attend! 

Some of you may remember my posts about Angela learning to swim. Like, the first time she went under water, which was just 18 months ago! Or, the first time she went of the platform, which was just one year ago!

Well, guess what? She is now the Division 7 state champion for the 25 meter backstroke, and she missed the gold in the 15 meter freestyle by 3/16 of second! (she was beat by a young man much older than her!) I have a video of the 15 meter freestyle, but it was a VERY close race, which means it was VERY intense for the mom, which means the camera was bouncing all over the place while I was screaming things like, "big arms!" and "KICK HARDER!" and "REACH REACH REEEAAAAAACH!!!!!!" If you beg enough, I'll load the video, otherwise I'll spare you. LOL Sadly, she had to miss two events, as there was a small incident in the pool which required it close for the rest of the day. There were a lot of disappointed athletes, many who would have qualified for nationals, but instead were forced to scratch. But things happen! We made up for it by going with our friends Tanya and her mom to the Hannah Montana movie. LOL

I do have a couple of pictures of the day though. Here's Angela getting her gold for the 25 meter backstroke. (not sure why some are blurry. It's possible it had to do with the camera operator!)

And getting her silver for the 15 meter Freestlye. Notice the guy who got gold is much bigger than her!

It was about 300 degrees inside, but a pleasant 70 outside, so we went out to wait for Angela's next race. Here she is, showing off her gold.