One of the many reasons that I love my swim team

For those of you who are not around me on a frequent basis, it might not have been obvious in my blog posts, but I absolutely adore my swim team. It is a group of a bunch of great people who work together really well. Nothing makes me happier than spending time with them.

Last night, we had our last get together of the season at a restaurant in Marsciano (ish). As you can imagine, I already know that when I go off to University, I will miss them quite a bit. In fact, on the list of things that I know I'm going to miss the most, they rank second only to my family...

We had a great time at dinner, and we were talking and playing with one of Marco's many gadgets (it was a bit like a Wii but not quite. Marco is forever showing off his latest toy) when Roberto presented me with a rectangular flat object wrapped up in tissue paper. He said that the entire swim team wanted to give me a little something to recognize that I was a valuable member of the team. He then proceeded to tell me that the present was a box, because they couldn't find one the right size for the present. After the swim team finished laughing at me for taking too long to tear off the tissue paper, I unwrapped a picture frame with pictures of the team and the names of all the people that had worked together to give it to me. Everyone was on there, including some swimmers who quit a couple of years ago. Tracking everyone down is no small feat, and the fact that they did that for me really touched me.

Although you can't see all of it in them in the picture, everyone's names are there. The photos are all photos of really fun/important swim meets. Top left is the first swim meet I went to with Village. Top right is a picture of Axel (that's a nickname in case you're wondering)  photobombing the girls who swam on the relays (back when we could form two boy-girl relays). Middle left is a photo of all the older kids at the regionals in Napoli, from 2014. Dead center is a picture of me on the block for my last regional butterfly race, even if you can't see it very well in the photo. Middle right is a picture from my second year with the team, back when we had both ugly orange shirts and ugly orange swimsuits. Bottom left is a photo of the entire team at the last regionals, my very last meet. The photo on the bottom right is one of the meets in 2015, one that we got into the newspapers for.
I know that this is a long sentimental explanation, but I think that it is important. The amount of trouble everyone went through to get this together for me is incredible. I never would have expected something like this.

As if that weren't enough to bring me to the verge of tears, Roberto then handed me another package saying that it was the other half of the box. It was a white T-shirt with everybody's signatures and the Village logo on the front.

I know I've already said this but the number of people who got together to do this for me was really really really touching

This is a note from my Roberto "It has been an honor and a pleasure to coach you"

After that, Roberto handed me what he called "the present". When I unwrapped it, I found two sweatshirts, one of which was from the team and the other of which was from the management. The one from my team is a hoodie with the team logo and my initials on it (I put it on right away). The one from Emanuele (the manager) was a more stylish one with the team logo on the back.

The hoodie from my swim team. It is really a lovely blue. It's a deep blue but not navy.

This is the back of the sweatshirt from the gym management. It's a cute sweatshirt and is just the right weight for a spring or fall day.

As far as I know, they have never done anything of the like before now. This is the first time that anyone has gotten going away gifts, so it made me feel all the more special. They truly did it just for me, and not because it's the cultural norm. In my opinion the gifts given when there is no particular need to give a gift are the best of all. Needless to say I gave everyone big hugs and said my thank yous.

And this is why my swim team is the best ever.

So thank you Elena, Angelica, Clementina, Samuele, Federico, Giulia, Gianmarco, Anastasia Piermarini, Marco (il Capitano), Francesca Mosca, Gabriele, Lorenzo Giudici, Giorgio (Giorgione), Matteo, Veronica, Alessandro (Axel) Amoroso, Nicola, Virginia, Lucia, Lorenzo Rancini, Francesca Massinelli, Riccardo (Riccardino), Alessandro Marcucci, Stefano, Anastasia Benedetti, Gessica, Sofia and Roberto. You guys truly are the best ever.

Ciao,

Florence