Flags

Woo hoooo!!! We have backstroke flags at the little pool at Twin Rivers. It only took months, some of that was my fault, some of that was nobody's fault. But we have them, and I am getting ready to defeat Randy Beets in a whole new stroke. Let me tell you about it.

It started more than a year ago. When I signed up for the Mississippi State Senior Olympics in 2019, I decided to do the maximum four swim events. This forced me to toe the line in two sprints. I am not a sprinter, but I thought having to train to race a 50 and a 100 could only make me a better, more rounded swimmer. It did. Or at least I think it did.

Fast forward to sign up time this year. The same thought process hit me. Why not do another, a different event and stretch myself further as an athlete. So I started doing some backstroke laps at the pool and although I am far from good at the back, it is my best bad stroke. So I signed up for the 100 back.

Then I contacted Debbie about getting some backstroke flags. That was February 12. I offered to acquire the flags and placed an order that month. Not understanding flags, I ordered one flag thinking I was getting a pack of flags. That caused my order to be stalled, emails between SwimOutlet and me to be exchanged, and finally my partial order was shipped. 

Later, I did some figuring, then some procrastinating, then in early March I placed another order to get everything we needed. A day or two later, an email from SwimOutlet informed me that my order was being held up in Ohio until April 6. WHAT!?!?!? Yeah, the COVID-19 thing even hit my package. They wanted to know if I still wanted the order. I want the order, I want the order, I want the order, I tried to convince them. Let me be clear, this is not a knock on SwimOutlet. I love that company, but this COVID thing has everything crazy.

April 6 came and no email saying my order had been shipped. April the 7th came and went. Then the 9th, 10th, and 11th. I was getting antsie. Finally on April 12 I received an email saying my order had shipped. At last, I thought, we are getting somewhere.

The package arrived April the 15th. After swimming on the 16th, I went home, unpacked both boxes, and made sure we had everything we needed. Then I texted Debbie and told her I had the stuff. "What do you want me to do with it?" I asked.

"I'll send Robert right over," was her response. Robert, by the way, is the fix-anything-and-everything man at Twin Rivers. 

Great, I thought. I need to mow the front lawn. I'll start that, and I will see Robert when he drives up. I mowed the whole front before I got that sinking feeling that maybe when she said, I'll send Robert right over, she meant right over to the pool. Dang. Can this get anymore screwed up?

I went to the pool Friday the 17th. I texted Debbie when I drove up. "I'm here." I went inside the poolhouse. There were people there, several people. I sent Debbie another text: "I'm leaving."

To make a short story long, I did some stuff and then came back to the pool. It was empty. I waded in and Robert walked through the door. "What's up?" I asked. "You want to put up some backstroke flags?"

"That's the idea," he answered. 

I went to my truck and got the stuff. I laid it out and showed Robert what needed to be done. 

"We can handle this," he told me. "You swim."

Cha ching!!! I love this guy.

So I swam while Robert and one of the other guys worked on the flags. Then they got one side up. I stopped. "Looks good," I exulted giving them the thumbs up.

I swam some more and they finished the second row of flags. I did some backstroke, swam under the flags both ways and flipped. Yee haaa. We have backstroke flags and those things are beautiful. Now I am going to whip Randy Beets in another stroke. Thank you, Debbie. Thank you, Robert. Thank you, Jesus.