One of my favorite actresses passed away this weekend. I believe we are all mourning the loss of such a talented actress. (This image is free and may be used by anyone for any purpose. This file is licensed under the Creative CommonsAttribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.)
Diane Keaton was a resident of Southern California and she owned a home in Palm Springs, which she and her family used for vacations. Her daughter was a swimmer, like my kids, and we’d be surprised to see Keaton on our pool deck during holidays. Just like other swim families, kids often drop in on local teams while the family has vacation. There’s not many days of missing practice in the swim world.
One year at Summer Junior Olympics in Mission Viejo, I spotted Diane Keaton on the pool deck. She was dressed in her usual Annie Hall attire. I learned this weekend that Hall was her maiden name and Annie was her nickname. Also, that her personal wardrobe was used for the movie of the same name.
Other parents at the Mission Viejo pool spotted Diane Keaton that weekend, too. Within minutes there was a murmer around the pool deck that Diane Keaton was there!
One of the dad’s from our team was face to face with Diane Keaton. He said, “You look just like that actress…” He couldn’t remember her name.
“Diane Keaton,” she said.
“Yeah, that it’s it. Diane Keaton. You know you really look like her.”
“I am Diane Keaton,” she replied.
He didn’t believe her. Keaton asked him if he wanted a selfie with her. She took the selfie with his phone. That dad rushed back to our pop-up tent and blurted to the group of parents, “I just got a picture with a woman who looks just like Diane Keaton.”
We all answered in unison, “That IS Diane Keaton.”
What a special person she was who didn’t put on airs for being famous, but wanted to live a quiet private life in spite of being an iconic figure and major actor.
I’ve written my Memory and Meaning proposal for my photography “Art Studio” class. My subject as I’ve said is sea glass, first choice. Back up plan is birds. This is one of my first sea glass pictures, taken outside in the morning light. I wrote about my sea glass project HERE.
We’ve had more than our usual social outings lately. It’s because our good friends and neighbors have been out of town — and then we were out of town. We wanted to connect and get together before we go our separate ways again. It’s busier than I enjoy, but there have been some moments that really touched me.
AI Overview:
Social life refers to an individual’s time spent interacting with other people and the quality of those relationships, often involving activities for pleasure or enjoyment with friends, family, and the broader community. A person’s social life can include both in-person and online interactions and is shaped by the bonds they form and the social opportunities available to them.
I went to a baby shower for a woman who was a swimmer with my kids on the Palm Springs swim team. She earned a swim scholarship at ASU, broke the 200 free record, and now teaches elementary school in the Phoenix area. Her husband does electrical work for us and we’ve had them over for dinner.
I was so excited to see her, her sister and her mom. The mother-to-be is four years older than my oldest, but they all hung out together at the pool. Her sister is a year older than her, but I have the best memories of being at swim meets, so impressed with these sisters. They would engage the youngers under pop up tents playing cards, games and being silly at swim meets.
When I told my kids I was going to her baby shower, they both said, “We love them!” That’s saying something more than 15 years later from being swim teammates.
Back in the day, this mom took me under her wing and taught me all about being a swim mom. She showed me the ropes of volunteering at swim meets and what jobs were the best ones to sign up for. We’d host Friday through Sunday swim meets in Palm Springs with close to 750 swimmers. Maybe even bigger. That meant there would also be a mom, dad — even grandma and grandpa — for each swimmer. We had a snack bar that would serve breakfast and lunch for all those people.
We had a separate area of food for the coaches, around 50 of them. Our team had a reputation for the best food ever in Southern California for swim coaches. There were two reasons for this. (REASON ONE) Chef Francois from the Ritz Carlton was a swim dad. His daughter was one of our daughter’s swim friends. He prepared the coaches’ meals (REASON TWO) which was prime rib, turkey dinner and yes, LOBSTER. Another swim dad free dove for lobster off the Southern California coast and took his kids and their friends to assist in the catch.
All those memories came rushing back when I walked into the baby shower and got hugs from the sisters and the mom. How wonderful to reminisce, be around younger people that I truly love and the mom who I spent so much time with. We sat and talked during swim practices and worked together at meets. I didn’t realize how much I value these friendships from my swim mom days.
Below: Finches at the birdbath.
What do you consider a busy social life?
Do you like being quiet staying at home, or being out and about busy?
What friends from your past do you still see?
JoyRoses13 from Nuggets of Gold wrote a fun story on her blog using my photos of Red plus pictures from another photographer. You can read it HERE.
This photo was from my daughter’s last PAC 12 championship swim meet in Federal Way, Wash. It’s a ball pit in the lobby of the Natatorium for photo ops. Every year, they had something different to pose with. I’m sitting at the top right, not in the ball pit, because I’m wearing a brace after wrecking my knee skiing. This group of women were my compadres at the University of Utah — all proud swim moms of Utes.
Last week I was surprised to see an email with the subject line: “Swim Mom Advice.”
That brought me back to the roller coaster days of being a swim mom. Both my kids began swimming with our local club team at an early age. My son swam through high school, my daughter all four years of college.
A woman was emailing me for advice about her daughter who was a swimmer in college. No, I didn’t recognize the name. I have never met her. Nor, do I know who her daughter is or where she goes to college.
So why was she emailing me?
I used to write a weekly swim parenting advice column for SwimSwam, the world’s most read swim site. You can look at my stories HERE. I have a page for them on my blog.
For my column, I read sports parenting books and websites from “real” sports parenting experts. I also listened to podcasts. Although I used first-hand stories, I actually did homework and didn’t just write things off the cuff.
After a couple years, I started getting emails from swim moms sharing specifics about their children, coaches or teams. They wanted my advice. I turned this into a feature called “Ask Swim Mom” which I rotated into my weekly column. One thing about writing for SwimSwam, I got a lot of comments — some good, some downright vicious. For my “Ask Swim Mom” column a common comment was to stop making up stupid questions. That wasn’t true. I was flattered people emailed me.
I started writing for SwimSwam after interviewing for a managing editor job. The job turned out to be weekends and evenings — covering big swim meets — and not for that point in my life. But I did submit a story I wrote about being a swim mom. The founder and CEO of SwimSwam called me. He told me that if SwimSwam were a movie, they had a cast of characters, but no one to play the role of “Swim Mom.” He was casting me!
What was the email about?
There are lots of changes in collegiate swimming. I think it’s due to trickle down of NIL from football and other big money sports. Swimming loses money. It takes a lot of money to fund a pool. Consequently, rosters of swimmers are being cut at many teams. This swim mom said that swimmers were being cut, but not her daughter. Some of her daughter’s roommates and best friends were out. People including moms weren’t speaking to each other. I can only imagine how hard that would be for all the parents and swimmers — those who are staying have survival guilt. Those who were cut are devastated.
In any case, it felt good to be a swim mom again for a day. I replied to her email and asked my daughter for her advice and included it, too.
In the end, my daughter transitioned from swimmer to swammer and became a working adult. Of course, COVID shut downs had a lot to do with it not being easy. My swim mom days were over and I thought to myself, “Who would want my advice anyway?” Hence the end of “Ask Swim Mom” and my weekly column for SwimSwam.
What time in your life do you look back on and miss — or not miss? And why?
Ever have one of those weeks? Where everything seems to be happening at once? I’m having one and I’m thankful it’s Friday.
My week started with one thing on the schedule each day. That’s unusual for me. I usually have more down days than days with things planned. I had appointments, my lunch bunch went to a fun new restaurant, I had a board meeting for my women’s group that supports sex trafficked women. We invited a neighbor over for dinner Thursday because his wife is out of town. I had my zoom call where we discuss all the things you’re not supposed to in polite company — current events, politics and yes, religion!
I even made it to the YMCA and started lap swimming again! Yay for me! It feels wonderful to be back in the water and helps my toes that have started to hurt again during my walks. I will credit swimming to keeping me calm during my super, busy week.
I got a phone call while out to lunch with my friends. A swim mom friend from Palm Springs called. We usually talk for an hour. I didn’t answer because like I said, I was out to lunch. I forgot about the call and then I saw they texted me several times. I realized I had missed a few calls from her earlier in the week, too.
This mom was one of my best friends on the swim team. I went to my first swim meet when our son was in second grade. I was overwhelmed. It’s like landing on another planet. I didn’t know what was going on. Our son was scared. We couldn’t figure out how we were supposed to know when he was supposed to line up at the blocks.
The first person to greet me with a big smile and welcome was this woman, who would become one of my best friends.
Our two kids swam with her daughter, who went to the Beijing Olympics at age 16 and London at 20. Their daughter is so humble that once our daughter said to her, “Wow. I get to train with an Olympian.”
She looked around and answered, “Really? Who? Where’s the Olympian?”
Our son and her daughter would do homework together at the pool before practice when they were in high school.
Wednesday night I called and my friend asked if they could stay with us for three or four days starting the next day. Her husband is in a spear fishing tournament at a lake by us. He wants to scout out the lake before the big event. Of course I said yes.
They are arriving Thursday, while we’re having our neighbor over for dinner.
Thursday morning, I moved Olive and all her cat stuff from the casita into our master bathroom. I moved my files, books and laptop, too. We had guests a little over a week ago, and I prepped and readied the casita for them. Gradually, my stuff and Olive’s found it’s way back in there.
Sheets are washed, bed is made and grocery shopping is done to stock their fridge with a few goodies. I’m good to go. I did let her know that I had two meetings on Friday and would be gone most of the day.
She said she’s not expecting me to entertain her. So all is good! But I was a bit overwhelmed….
Do you like busy weeks, or quiet alone ones? Or a mix of the two?
I wrote this post in 2015 when my daughter was swimming in college. Watching the Olympics and having a connection to a few of the swimmers made me miss my swim mom days.
My daughter diving in for the 1000 free during a dual meet. Utes vs. USC. She’s the one with pointed toes.
We went to my daughter’s first college dual meet of the season this weekend. I loved every minute of the meet, but even more, spending time with her. She invited several swim teammates out to dinner. It felt like the sprinkle of rain after a long drought—listening to them laugh and talk about their meet and practices.
I didn’t realize how much I miss the little daily things about being an age-group swim mom.
I miss the kids hanging out. So many personalities, so many different families, all bound together by one common goal. Swimming.
My son and swim team friends. He’s in front.
I have a fierce loyalty to our team and the couple times when factions of parents split off to form their own teams, I was shocked and hurt. It felt like losing members of my immediate family. I’d always wonder why? I never thought we had a bad experience—maybe at times less than perfect—but I guess that’s part of the reason I didn’t understand.
Good times were sitting together in the stands cheering for all our kids. Getting the new team t-shirts, sipping Starbucks on a chilly winter morning under the pop-up tents. Chatting and laughing with parents while we waited to see what the day’s meet would bring. I loved working with our parents and officials under the admin tent, in awards, or in the snack bar at our home meets.
The team cheer at an away meet.
I loved having kids over to the house to hang out between morning and afternoon practices during long hot summer days. I loved cooking eggs, bacon and sausage in bulk for a pack of hungry swimmers. I was amazed at how much they could eat as a group. I loved having the team over for painting t-shirts for a big meet.
Swim team girls painting t-shirts for a meet in our back yard with their coach.
I loved listening to the kids laughing about silly things that happened in practice and the goofy songs they played and sang to like “Funkytown” and the “Numa Numa Song.”
Most of all, l I loved seeing my kids smiling, laughing and enjoying their friendships. Throughout the years, my kids were surrounded by amazing kids, families and coaches. Just being in the background was a joy.
I miss those days.
Group photo on t-shirt painting day.
My daughter receiving ribbons from her first coach.
What do you miss about earlier years in your life?
This is a post I wrote in 2021 during the Tokyo Olympics. Caeleb Dressel had seven Olympic Gold Medals at the time and was known as “Captain America.” Fast forward to 2024 and he began the Olympics earning a gold medal in the 4 X 100 free relay. I was so happy for him making a comeback. He took time off to get through mental health issues and found joy again in swimming. He also got married and the Dressels have a baby boy.
This past week, he had a heartbreaking day where he didn’t win a medal in the 50 free or even qualify for the 100 fly finals. NBC zoomed in on his face as he cried. I thought that was totally out of line.
Saturday, Dressel earned his ninth gold for the mixed relay where men and women swim. My daughter’s opinion was this: On Dressel’s bad day, he shouldn’t have swam the 100 fly on the mixed relay. He had two 100 fly’s and a 50 free to swim that day. As a sprinter, that’s a heavy load.On Sunday, Dressel swam the 4 X 100 medley relay and had the fastest 100 fly time. That was his last event and the relay earned silver. Without Dressel’s 100 fly fast swim, the US might not have medaled.
My son and swim team friend winning the high school Physics cardboard boat race in the city pool. She competed in Beijing and London Olympics in distance freestyle races.
From my 2021 post:
I wrote a an article called Why Isn’t Caeleb Dressel a Household Name? for SwimSwam in 2018. Dressel had competed in NCAA championships and had broken barriers like the 40-second mark in the 100-yard freestyle. But at the time, only swim nerds knew his name.
After the Tokyo Olympics, I’m sure he will be better known, but after the Olympics fades away will his name fade, too?
Swimming like gymnastics are collegiate sports and there’s not much attention to them until Olympic years. It all comes down to money in my opinion. Football and basketball are money makers for schools. Swimming loses revenue. No fans are buying tickets, the meets are free and sparsely attended. The pool costs money to maintain.
During my years as a swim parent, I wondered how to get swimming to be more popular. In 2019 the International Swimming League began holding competitions.There are teams in the US and abroad filled with the world’s swimming stars. The teams compete against each other and it gives swimmers a chance to earn money, race and hopefully get more fans to appreciate swimming. But it isn’t televised, at least I haven’t seen it. I think it’s live streamed.
Here’s a post from X that I loved on Sunday, August 4, 2024. It’s from my editor at SwimSwam:
Here’s the article I wrote that mentions Caeleb Dressel and wonders how to get more people into swimming:
We witnessed amazing things this past weekend watching the 2018 Men’s D1 NCAA meet. Who can believe that a human being broke 40 seconds in the 100 free, or 18 seconds in the 50 free—not to mention 43 seconds in the 100 fly? Caeleb Dressel should be a household name this week after breaking through these barriers at his final meet as a senior swimming for the University of Florida.
We watched from home on the computer, something that wasn’t possible years ago. The live stream was clear, the narration entertaining and professional. I remember trying to watch one of our friend’s kids at Trials in 2008 and the production quality wasn’t great and the livestream paused repeatedly. Swim coverage has improved significantly through the years, but I wonder if the audience has increased?
Of course, Olympic sports don’t get the attention at the collegiate level as the big money sports, like football and basketball. In addition, we hear heartbreaking news of universities canceling swim programs regardless of high GPAs or how many times the teams win conference meets, like the recent news of Eastern Michigan University. We have to wait every four years for the Olympics to come around to show the nation how great our swimmers are. Is there anything we can do as swim enthusiasts to change this? In all reality, probably not much. I personally don’t have the power to change TV schedules or viewing habits, but I can work on several little things.
Here are a few ideas about how we can help the popularity of swimming:
ONE
Scorekeeping. We’ve had friends come to meets and they don’t know what’s going on because there’s never a score posted. In other sports, you know which team is winning. Is it possible to post scores often and prominently at meets where they are keeping team scores?
TWO
Bring a friend to the pool. Whether your team has a “bring a friend day” or you ask one of your child’s friends to visit practice, we can reach out to more kids and introduce them to swimming.
THREE
Keep swimming fun. One reason why kids quit swimming is it’s “not fun anymore.” By allowing our kids time to goof off with their friends around the pool deck, either before or after practice, and keeping our attitudes light, we may keep our kids in the pool for more years.
FOUR
Invite friends and family to a meet. We can share our excitement and enthusiasm with our friends and family. Maybe not ask them to sit on the deck with us for two or three days, but have them stop by for an hour or two. Explain what’s going on so they can follow along and maybe they’ll catch the swimming bug.
FIVE
Be an ambassador. Talk about swimming with your non-swimming friends and share how much the sport has helped your kids. Encourage friends at any age to get into the pool and enjoy the great feeling of floating in the water. It’s never too late to join a Masters team.
My daughter has her foot on the blocks as they dive in for the 200 free. The swimmer in the lead is Olympic medalist Abbey Weitzeil. This was the summer of 2013, while they were still in high school.
Are you watching the Olympics? What are your favorite sports to watch? Do you keep track of those sports on off Olympic years? Also, what do you think of this year’s Olympics with all the ups, downs, and drama?
Soon, we’ll be headed to Salt Lake City, Utah for a few days. We’re going to visit my husband’s childhood best friend and wife. While my daughter was at the U of U, we’d see them regularly. But we’ve only seen them a couple times since my daughter graduated. We’re making the trek to spend some time with them.
I looked up what I wrote in the past about SLC and this post popped up from 2018:
The last dual meet for these senior Utes.
After four years of visiting our daughter at the University of Utah, my love affair with Salt Lake City is sadly over. She left the great state of Utah to start a career in Arizona. Although my husband said we can always go back, I wonder, how often will we? My bet is that on a rare occasion we will trek up to see our friends the McKinneys or maybe go to an alumni swim meet. But, other than that, I will miss the gorgeous city surrounded by mountain peaks. Salt Lake City is a vibrant, clean, friendly yet small city.
Another thing that is amazing is the community spirit of rooting for the Utes. Everywhere you see “Go Utes!” murals, flags and signs. The football stadium is always sold out–rain or shine. The gymnastics team is the most attended women’s collegiate sport in the country with more than 15,000 fans in the Huntsman Dome.
A friend asked my daughter and me to put together a list of things to do in SLC for her niece who’s a freshman at the University of Utah. Most of our things to do revolved around food. But, all in all it’s a list of our favorite memories during four years of being Ute fans. Here’s our Salt Lake City guide for UTE students, parents and visitors:
Hotels
A view of the Grand America from the pool deck of the Little America Hotel.
The Grand America Hotel — nicest in SLC, fun to walk through, even if you don’t stay there. I never made it to Sunday Brunch, but it’s supposed to be amazing.
The Little America — same company, Sun Valley Company, owns both the Little and Grand America hotels. It’s very nice but a little more low key than the Grand America. Restaurants are great, try the Coffee Shop for comfort food and amazing hot rolls with butter. I loved the gym and pool and big rooms at a great price. Our home away from home in Salt Lake City.
FYI, we’ll be returning to our home away from home on our upcoming trip.
Restaurants
A sandwich and salad at Les Madeleines.
Valter’s Osteria — fine Italian, special occasion, delicious and great atmosphere. The owner Valter is so personable!
Market Street Grill — Pacific Northwest seafood flown in daily. Great for big parties or family lunch and dinner.
Sushi:
Takashi My favorite sushi restaurant. They have an excellent menu with many hot dishes, too.
Sapa My daughter’s favorite sushi restaurant. I think she and her friends liked the “all you can eat” special. Plus it was exciting for them their freshman and sophomore years, because you aren’t allowed in unless you’re with someone 21 years old or older.
Other Favorites:
Les Madeleines — small Parisian bakery/cafe for breakfast and lunch. I love the tomato basil soup with salad!
Freshies Lobster Co. — Park City must! Casual restaurant that started as a food truck serving lobster rolls and lobster salad, amazing! The best meal I ever had in Utah! So simple but delicious. Here’s a review by the Salt Lake Tribune which says they opened a Salt Lake City restaurant blocks away from my daughter’s old house.
Italian — Antica Sicilia and Doce Sicilia. Recommended by Matteo Songe, swimmer from Italy on the Utah Swim team. He said this was authentic Sicilian. The Carbonara pasta is prepared with flames in a cheese wheel tableside!
Aristo’s — family-operated Greek. Delicious. Outdoor seating on the patio in the summer.
We are trying a new Italian restaurant this trip.Matteo’s. Matteo was the swimmer and friend of our daughter’s I mentioned above. He was a distance and open water swimmer along with our daughter. We got to know him at Open Water Nationals one year. Our daughter said he stayed in the US and opened up this restaurant — which is now the place to go for special occasions.
City Creek Center — nicest mall with the most stores including Nordstrom, Lush, Apple, Sephora, etc. Shop Friday or Saturday if you’re there for a weekend, since the entire mall is closed on Sunday!
Sports at UTAH — go to football, gymnastics, basketball, swimming, etc. The crowds at football and student MUSS section are so enthusiastic. Red Rocks Gymnastics is a top five NCAA team consistently and they have 15,000 plus in attendance at meets — the most attended Olympic sport for collegiate women in the U.S.
Church — CenterPoint in Orem. Pastor Scott McKinney. Scott and my husband were best friends from grade school through high school. It was so nice to reconnect with Scott and his wife Sara. They provided our daughter with a home away from home. She was invited into their home for Father’s Day, Thanksgiving and whenever she wanted.
Downtown Salt Lake City, UT
Where your favorite places to visit and do you have any recommendations?
