It isn’t about the destination – it’s about the journey.

Swim team has never been about the actual swimming for me.

I give it my all and I work hard to do the best I can, but I’ve never been sad if I didn’t personally come first in a race.

I always want our team to beat out whomever we’re competing with.

I always want to see my team members go above and beyond what they think they can do, but I would never shed a tear over a lost meet.

I’m on the team because the people I’ve been with for five years have seen me as my truest self.

Every Tuesday and Thursday we get up and show up at the pool at 6 a.m. Most of us show up in pajamas, tangled hair, in the truest form of ourselves, the form of ourselves that even our closest friends rarely see.

I’m here for every time I’ve laughed so hard I cry.

The inspirational speeches in the Chick-Fil-A parking lot at 5 a.m.

The confetti cannons.

Listening to Christmas music in the locker room and everyone sings along.

I’m here for the tears.

I’m here for supporting my teammates – my friends – when they need it most.

For when they don’t do as well as they want in a meet and they beat themselves up and we have to build them back up.

There are mornings when no one feels like getting out of bed.

There are mornings when no one wants to get into the water, but we do.

We get in and we hate it and we know that if we didn’t have it in the mornings we would have an empty place in our hearts.

There are meets we win. There are meets we lose. Either way, the memories we make are worth more than gold.

I wouldn’t trade this team for anything.

Every year we grow a little bit more and every year we surprise ourselves by what we learn. Sometimes we learn a lot about swimming, sometimes it’s about each other, sometimes it’s about life.

Our destination is our senior year.

Our destination is becoming the best swimmers we can be.

Yes, these goals are important, but it’ll never match the importance of the journey it took to get here.