I had to stay late at work Thursday night and missed Mary Claire’s swim meet. But I got a very excited phone call from her to report she had gotten five blue ribbons. Like her brother, she loves to win, but this was a bigger win than the colors of the ribbons.

Asthma brought a pretty quick end to Claire’s soccer career this spring. It had been coming on for a year, but with the move to larger 13/14 fields, too many games were being interrupted by Claire collapsing on the field after a series of runs. It was a sad thing, because she loved playing soccer and really played well with her teammates.

She resumed athletics with summer swim league. We were hoping asthma could be managed better in a humid environment with rests between races. All of our kids have been strong swimmers, and Claire is no exception. Swimming 50 free and 50 back would have been the best (easiest) thing for her… shorter swims with her strongest strokes. But no, the coach needed her for the less popular events including 100 free and individual medley (fly, back, breast, free.) And he needed her for 50 fly, too.

Unfortunately, the asthma kicked in on some of these events each meet, usually with back-to-back 4-lappers. Claire would have to stop on the third or fourth lap, shaking, get to the side, and I would help her get out and get recovered. In a couple of cases she was able to rest and help her team out with the end-of-the-meet free relay.

She has been working on pushing herself at practice, figuring out the best timing to use her inhaler, and last Thursday she must have figured out the magic formula. She had a tough assignment including 50 fly and I.M. (only one 4-lapper, though). She also swam anchor on the free relay, and brought the team from behind to win. (Danny says that was always the funnest thing to do at the end of a meet.)

We’re all proud of Claire, yes for getting the five blues, but also figuring out how to compete, help her team win another meet, and, at least this past week, telling asthma to “eat my bubbles.”