My Best Jacket

I was never really very athletic as a kid. I've always been thin, which as a kid was a polite way of saying "you're made of nothing but elbows." I also started school a little young which meant that I was developmentally behind everyone. That combined with being a late bloomer (a.k.a. puberty free) made it so that I was a typical last picked, unathletic, just put his name on the roster and he'll sit quietly on the bench kind of kid.

When I hit high school, I was barely over five feet and wouldn't crack 100 pounds if I were soaking wet.

Which was why getting my letterman's jacket was one of the biggest moments of my teenage life.

My freshman year, I joined the swim team. I grew up around water, going to the beach and splashing around in the summer, but I wouldn't have called myself a swimmer. I remember my first few practices; I was so tired and out of air that I would roll over doing the freestyle and add in a little backstroke so that I could get just one extra breath in there.

Somehow, over the course of that season, my body figured out that this was the kind of thing it was actually built for. I had long arms and long legs, and not a lot of weight to move. It turns out that being built like a two-by-four made you pretty aquadynamic. 

The coach's solution to my newfound streamlined nature? He was going to make me a distance swimmer. Just a few weeks after I learned that rolling onto my back wasn't an acceptable practice, he had me swimming timed miles in practice. 

All season long, he kept me going with the promise that if I got good enough, he would let me swim for the varsity team at league finals. If you placed at league finals, you earned a varsity letter, which meant you could buy one of the coveted jackets. 

I swam like crazy all season, placed at league finals, and was one of only three freshmen in the school to earn a varsity letter that year. When I got my jacket, it smelled of felt and leather and it was like no other clothing I'd ever owned. It represented accomplishment, hard work, and an identity that I'd never known before: I was someone who was good at something.

Even though it was late May and close to 90 degrees, I wore that jacket to school the next day. And, probably the day after that as well. Being uncomfortable on campus has never been so worth it.