Success!

The Golden Girls- four of the top $ raisers- Bonnie, Susan, Sharon and Bee!

Sometimes the best laid plans work.  Sometimes goals are achieved.  Sometimes dreams do come true.

Like last Saturday, for example, when the pool where I work held a ten hour relay to raise money for operating expenses.  The goal for the event was $10 000 and it was achieved.  Although the actual total amount has not yet been calculated as more sponsors are coming in everyday, at midnight on the night of the swim, we had raised $10 200!  In addition to that the Board has run a bakesale and thanks to the generosity of the bakers and buyers, another $1100 was raised.

Let me tell you more about the relay.  We had five teams.

The team that I swam with was the Hubsters, made up of staff members and pool patrons. We had youngsters and oldsters (including me)  We wore sunglasses and lifeguard shirts and had a blast swimming and swimming and swimming. Our qualified members life guarded for free!

The Hubsters!

The second and most successful team was the Geezers, made up of a group of people that normally swim between 8 and 9 in the morning.  They wore various costumes with a green (Spring) theme.  Their mascot dressed up as Tinker bell and his nickname is now Tink! They even had a sign, "Bonnie's Geezers and Kool Kids" as the team was named for Bonnie, our faithful 8 a.m. lifeguard/instructor and they raised over $3000!

Bonnie (front row middle) and the Geezers

Tinker Bell- Geezer Mascot!

The third team was made up of aqua fitness patrons and volunteers. These Hub-Bubblers swam and chatted their way up and down their lane of the pool, not counting lengths but enthusiastically putting in the hours and hours and hours.

One of the very dedicated Hub Bubblers

 The fourth team was also from our facility and was composed of members of the Masters swimming team. Now these swimmers were in perpetual motion with sometimes up to four people swimming at one time. Apparently they clocked over 32 kilometres over the course of the ten hours.

Lori- the longest lasting Masters Swimmer!

The final team was the most impressive.  A group from a local gym participated for the entire ten hours, spending most of their time in the water. Some were youngsters who swam a little and others were swimmers who swam a lot.

Zen Dragons spent the day in the water...what a team!

Now, let me tell you about my day!  I left home at 6 a.m. to drive to the pool and open up for lane swimming and aqua fitness.  Our first swimming lessons for the session started at 10 a.m. with over 80 participants. At 1 p.m. the staff set up the pool for the relay and the people began arriving by 1:45. We had a parade around the pool, explained the rules and then took to the waters.

Many people came to watch, cheer and swim!

Between 2 p.m. and 12 midnight each of the five teams had at least one swimmer making forward progress. I thought as the day went on there would be fewer and fewer people, but that proved untrue.  At midnight there were still 20 or more swimmers hanging on the sides, seated on deck or swimming.  My swim was during the final hour. As I crawled my way through the pool with a little back stroke and breaststroke thrown in every 200 metres, I thought to myself, Together we have accomplished this!  We have reached our goal! 

Several quotes from my past came back to me during the meditative swim-

• Success comes in cans, not can'ts
• There is no I in Team 
• T. E. A. M. --> Together Everyone Achieves More

As I drove home and crawled into bed at 2:30 a.m., I realized that although the day was exhausting, it was a grand community building event and I can't wait until next year to do it all again.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

PS  It is now almost a month since the relay.  The fund raiser kicked off a series of changes at my place of employment.  We continue to work hard and the busy-ness has prevented me from writing more regularly. I will try to do better next time!   

Admirations and Appreciations

The Board of Directors that made the pool happen!

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you!

I must say that I admire and appreciate anyone with a full time job who can also update their blog on a daily basis.  Some of the bloggers I read update every day.  Unfortunately, I am not one of them.  My job at the pool has evolved to the point that the busy-ness follows me home, even though I am exhausted from the planning, supervising, lifeguarding, aqua fitness classes and teaching of swimming lessons.
For example, yesterday after coming home from a long week of work, I still had four hours worth of swimming lesson scheduling to complete for our next session.  I really did not have to finish it between 7 and 11 pm, but if I hadn't the task would have loomed over my head for the next two days.  Now it is done and I have time to blog!
The job is going well.  We have over 150 children signed up for lessons between March and May and are now taking registrations for the May-June session.  Aqua fitness classes are well attended as are the lane swims for adults. Today marked the first day of March Break with the Public Swim at capacity! People are thankful to have a facility in their town and for the most part are happy with the programming.
Sadly, it has been a very cold winter and the costs of heating water and air have skyrocketed out of control. Township funding, corporate sponsorships and individual donations are not what the organization expected and consequently the facility is not sustainable.  The board members are optimistic and many fund raising activities are now in full swing.
I have been organizing a ten hour Team Relay.  Five teams have been formed with 10-20 swimmers in each and everyone is looking for pledges.  I am captaining the Hubsters, a combined team of staff and members of the facility.  We also have a Masters team, an Aqua fitness team (the Bubblers), a Lane Swimmers team (the Geezers) and a team from a local gym. The goal is to raise $10 000.  The event is on March 22 from 2 pm through until midnight. I am optimistic!
You may wonder how all this activity has affected my personal life.  Believe me, it is not conducive to satisfactory down time.  I am looking for ways to reduce stress and increase energy.  Recently I have even changed my diet to exclude copious amounts of caffeine, fat, sweets and wheat.  I have increased my activity by including daily walks or cross county skis and some swimming.  I am trying to read more, visit with neighbours and just peace out. So far there is not a lot of change, but I hope that turns a corner soon.
My mother used to tell me that this too shall pass.
I met a woman yesterday who was bringing her grandsons to the pool for a swim. She looked tired and worn out and I immediately felt empathy for her.  We chatted and she told me that she would be back to the pool once she had some medical problems sorted out.  Upon further chatting she shared that she is going through testing for cancer and so far it is in her lungs, spine and liver.  With tears in her eyes she explained the it is what it is and that she is going to get through it. We shared a tear or two and a warm hug.  I wished I could have done more...
In the meantime I am grateful to have a job, friends and family members too.
Most of all, I am thankful to my husband.  Without his support I would probably be sitting at home feeling sorry for myself. For now, that is not an alternative.  There is still so much to be done.

Until next time,

Bee Rich

Bee on guard!