My 9 year old daughter Erin is the best swimmer in the family.

I would know this because I watch her swim every Saturday morning at 8am. I get up, get her ready and take her to swim. Where many parents use Saturday morning as a time to sleep in; I'm up and running before the sun comes up and typing away on my iPhone working on another chapter. Her class is where I do a lot of writing.
 

For an hour each week she works on her technique, honing her skills one lap at a time.  She's fast, strong and focused.  Yet, there is one thing she just can’t seem to master…she can't dive.
 

Erin is probably the least skilled diver in the group. She can swim laps around many of these other kids, but Erin looks like an injured one legged duck when she jumps into the water. The trainers have all worked with her and after each dive, they give each other a look like "is this kid ever gonna learn this"?  I try to coach her through the thick glass that divides us. I do sign language and try to demonstrate, with my hands, what she needs to do with her body. I type things on my phone and have her read them since we can't hear each other. No matter what I sign or the trainers tell her, diving just isn't something she is going to master at this point in her life. At least not today.
 

I shouldn't talk. I can barely swim. Never took a lesson. Never had a great example. I spent most of my formative years, when most kids are learning to swim, wading in creeks and rivers in the hill country of Texas. It's hard to swim when the water goes from two feet to five feet to two feet again all within a ten foot distance. Also, if I went underwater, there was a strong possibility that my brother Michael would try to hold my head down so I couldn’t get up. My kids swim in a controlled environment, whereas I was dodging water snakes and my brother trying to kill me. So my "learning environment" was a bit different than my daughter has experienced.  I can stay afloat, doggie paddle and not drown. That's about the extent of my swimming skills. As for diving? I do a pretty mean cannonball. Yet, we are not paying hundreds of dollars a year for me to swim are we?
 

We all have something that is holding us back from making it to the next grade, promotion or phase in life. We try to sharpen the axe of the weakest skill, but realistically, we can’t be the best at everything. Every award, promotion or commendation that we receive could have some sort of asterisk next to it representing the “but” in our overall abilities. You can excel at one thing within the category of many and that might get you where you need to go, but you will find that you spend a lot of time and energy trying to not let the weakest skill sweep the legs out from under you. What’s your big “but”? (Yes, I did that on purpose).

You don’t have to have all the skills to be the best. Understand that every record is destined to be broken by someone else, so cherish the moment if you are lucky enough to have your name in the record books; even if it is only for a few minutes. Embrace, champion and celebrate the handful of things you do great. #Tryharder to not lose sleep at night worrying about how your big “but” is going to screw you over in the end. (Again, I did that on purpose). My daughter may never be an Olympic diver or even the best swimmer in her class, but we get up every Saturday morning and try our best. In my book, the fact that she’s honestly trying, makes her the best and there’s nothing negative anyone can ever say about that.