We traveled back to the lovely little beach town of Wilmington last weekend for the ceremony - AJ's folks met us there, as well as all of her old swimming friends. We gathered at a beach front house on Wrightsville Beach and coalesced as an entourage of supporters and admirers, following AJ around for the weekend with mouths agape and basking in the glory of being among Hall-of-Famery.
Of course, it didn't take being inducted into the HoF for us to realize Adrienne's accomplishments as a swimmer. But sometimes, its good to pause and be recognized for truly exceptional achievements. Moments like this where you can stop, reflect, and revel in good times-passed are awesome, made only better when celebrating with the folks you shared those remarkable times with.
A few people with no memory of those days joined the weekend mix too, me among them. In some ways I feel like I am not new to this - AJ's swimming life is ensconced in trophy cases at her parent's house, captured in front page headlines in the sports sections of newspaper and through photos of Speedo-clad teenagers in front of giant blue swimming pools. You can almost smell the chlorine. But in reality, that's a part of AJ's life I really don't know - so for me, it was great to share four days listening to stories, walking on the UNCW campus, meeting the coach, visiting the natatorium, and seeing firsthand the record board at the end of the pool that still holds AJ's name--from 1998--as a record holder in the 200m breast stroke.
Needless to say, it was a good time had by all.
The first night at the beach house with some super cool chicks - Becca, KJ, Leigh, Katie, and AJ
We arrived just on time for the sunset at the beach house
The stage is set for the big event
For AJ's entourage
Gotta give a little interview first...
AJ takes the stage!
Great friends - the swimmers and divers of Suite P
The proud parents of the inductee
The outsiders - Leigh and John who weren't around during the glory days
AJ and Angela
A visit to where all the magic happened
A look at the record board
Look closely - AJ is one of the only record holders still from the '90s
Old friends in a familiar place
It was homecoming weekend, so all the inductees were honored during a timeout at that evening's basketball game
The Peanut Gallery
A and B
AJ and the other awesome inductees on the big screen!
The next day after all the festivities, all the girls headed home - so AJ and I had the day with her folks in sunny Wilmington. This was the view on our house's rooftop deck.
A highlight was an 8-mile barefoot walk on the beach - we walked the entire length of Wrightsville Island! Below are a few scenes from our fantastic afternoon stroll.
