Swim team season has started, and I think I'm finally getting into the groove of the afternoon practice schedule. We get home with T. about 4:00, and the kids have approximately 40 minutes to "rest"  (of course the rest time doesn't apply to me) before we have to begin the process of getting on suits and applying sunscreen. The kids practice from 5-6 and during their practice the deep end of the pool, where the high and low dives are, is open to other swimmers. The teenagers, who practice an hour earlier, usually hang out there, girls bobbing around in the water on one side, boys on the other.  Very few parents ever go in the deep end during swim practice, but I like to, so I'm often the only grown-up person bobbing along in a corner surrounded by teenagers. Sometimes I try on being sixteen again for size, in my head; mostly I just tread water and keep an eye on L. and T.

The other day I was in the water watching L., and was only half-aware of an intense and giggly teenager conversation going on near me. I tuned in just in time to hear one girl say something a little gossipy and, perhaps, a little naughty, too.

"Shhhh!" Her friend whispered to her, sharply, with a side-long glance in my direction. "There's somebody's mom right there!"

Somebody's mom.

That's me!

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