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My grandmother was an Olympic class swimmer in her younger years. She could have easily gone on to the Olympics in 1940 or 1944, but both years were cancelled due to World War II (she lived in the Netherlands at the time). By the time the 1948 Games came around, she was married with a child and had given up her Olympic dreams.
She must have wondered occasionally what might have been, but knowing her she never wasted too much time on it. She swam regularly up until her diagnosis with Alzheimer's, and won the Red Cross Swim Instructor of the Year award several times. Instead of focusing on the past, she worked to help young swimmers improve their skills. She passed on her skills to all of her descendents in one way or another: both my father and uncle were lifeguards in Miami, my cousins have both lifeguarded, and I enjoy swimming more than any other form of exercise (though I have no finesse).
My grandmother is one of the few people I know of who have had Olympic dreams that I actually believe would have made it to the podium. I'm not saying that because I am her granddaughter, I'm saying that because the lady had a will of iron, a spine of steel, and a drive to be the best that lasted well into her diagnosis with Alzheimer's.
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If I am not better, at least I am different. --Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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