I was an eleven year old boy, dressed in a tie, shirt, shoes and all that fancy stuff. Me and my family were on the way to church. Why were we so dressed up you may ask. My youngest sister was going to be baptized. This would just be another baptism, but it wasn’t. This was a special one, not just because it would be the last one of my immediate family (parents and siblings), but also I could of been attending a swimming state meet of the eleven year olds right now.

Why I wasn’t was at that swim meet was obviously because of the baptism. But I was working so hard this season to qualify. I made sure that when the coach wasn’t looking I would still be working really hard. I worked and worked and than I was one second away from qualifying time. We had three more weeks until state. Next week is the last meet before state so I have to drop a whole second. This may not seem hard, but every second counts. And if you take one bad stroke, bad breath, bad turn or even a bad start can make you gain a second on your overall time. This was my last chance to qualify and prove to myself that I can do this.

It’s been a month since my baby sister has been born. Mom and Dad were going to name her Issabella if she was a girl, but Dad told me “ I don’t like Isabella, It’s kind of over used. I like Valentyna”. Mom agreed with that and so she became Valentyna. I remember when we went to visit Mom in the hospital. The newborn was so small, it was hard for me to imagine that we were all like this. Valentyna slept most of the visit we were there, but when she woke her screaming filled the room with this strange feeling of fear and annoyance. Not I’m in danger kind of fear, more like that something is bothering her. I guess that her screaming was effective, because she got the attention. After a while we went home and my little brother asked Dad “ When is Mom and the baby coming home” Dad replied with the usual “ soon “. Dad always said. From the day that mom went to the hospital. He wasn’t wrong Mom was there for a very short period of time after she gave birth.

It’s here, I’m on the block my heart is pounding out of my chest. This is my last chance to make the cut. If I don’t make it than all that hard work will lead to absolutely nothing. The referee says “take your marks” the next thing you hear is a loud peep. I jumped as far as I could and when I hit the water I made sure to be in the stream line position and kit butterfly kicks until I hit the surface. As I hit the surface I start swinging my arms as fast as I can and I take three stroke before I even took a breath. Freestyle the fastest stroke. As I come to the other end of the pool I stop breathing under the flags and take my last stroke. I put all my strength into it and flip my legs over my head really fast. Than as I am jumping of the wall I see my competitor in the other lane he is a little bit ahead of me so I do my four fly kicks and three strokes than i can breathe. Now I'm on the same level as the guy next to me. On the third lap (one lap is one length of the pool) I start to get really tired my arms are still going as fast as they can, but it is not as fast as I was in the beginning. Last lap everything hurts, my arms, torso and legs. I try to not breathe as much as possible. The guy next to me is right behind me, but he is gaining on me, that's when I say it doesn’t matter how much it hurts, because this pain is temporary, but the win is permanent. Last 5 yards I put my head down swing my arms like the propeller of a helicopter and kicking my legs as fast as a rocket. I hit the wall so hard that my hand hurt for a whole day. I look up to the board with places and times. Josef Kubis-2----01:13:48 (qualifying time is 01:15:69). I drop more than 2 seconds and I made the cut.

Ever since I can remember my Dad always taught me the importance of family. He always said “ Family is second God is first. Do you understand “. We would go to church every Sunday, but when he said something like that he meant it. When my grandpa died he had a very big project to od at work, but he told his boss and took us all out of school and went to the funeral. We spent time with our family. So when my little sister was born I knew that I would have to go to her baptism.

After the meet we had two weeks until state. My Dad came to pick me up said “ good job, but I don’t know if you can go to state” I say “ what does that mean “. He told me that my sister's baptism will be on the day of state. I come home and we talk about how much work I put into this season and the value of family. The decision ended up on me. As I mentioned this will be my sisters only baptism and I can always qualify to state. So I picked my sister over state.