A Painful Decision

Pippi came to a decision today, a painful one. She has been dancing ballet--taking classes under Toni Gonzales Garcia along with her sisters--for five years now. She has also been swimming and training under coach Toti.

We noticed early on, when she was probably three or four years old, that she was a natural in the water, a very strong swimmer, who had the lung endurance to stay underwater for extended periods and the muscular strength to maneuver her body in and out, and through the water effortlessly.

She started formal swimming lessons because her best friend, Cali, was taking them. Because of this, the sport had become extra attractive to her. Many times, as I watch her swim, I ask myself howcome, among all my kids, she has this gift for swimming and I remain as clueless as when the question first entered my mind. However, I have been toying with this theory: since Pippi is asthmatic, she is on and off asthma medication, using the nebulizer, and during severe attacks, resorting to short prednisone doses,which is a kind of steroid. So, I think that the asthma medication, may have, in fact, fortified her lungs.

It is worthy of mention that her lung capacity is so strong that when her coach exhorts her to follow rules by coming up for a breath every two strokes and she questions and says, "Why do I have to? I don't need to breathe."

I have mentioned this quack theory to family and friends time and again but then I also think to myself, yeah, right. Anyway, for the past two weeks I was glued to the Olympics because of the phenomenon that is Michael Phelps and the oldest Olympian medal winner, swimmer Dara Torres. Lo and behold, it was mentioned several times during the course of the games that both Phelps and Torres are asthmatic. Imagine that! I might just have a nine-year-old Olympian in the making running around my house at this very moment!

Anyway, she has been taking ballet lessons twice a week, and swimming twice a week as well. She has finally decided to drop ballet and concentrate on swimming, adding yet another training day to make it a total of three swimming sessions per week. It took a while for her to decide. She has invested many years in the dance and has become quite attached to it. But I think her heart is truly in the sport of swimming.