“My mom was born into the war in Germany, survived that, and raised four kids as a single parent while working full-time.Anything that was in her way didn’t last long, and I think maybe I inherited some of that perseverance from her. She always believed in me. I realize these days that kids have so […]
By Ian Aldrich
Jun 15 2012
“My mom was born into the war in Germany, survived that, and raised four kids as a single parent while working full-time.Anything that was in her way didn’t last long, and I think maybe I inherited some of that perseverance from her. She always believed in me. I realize these days that kids have so many people saying to them, ‘You can’t, you can’t, you can’t.’ There was never that in my life. It was: ‘I want to go to the Olympics someday.’ ‘Okay, well, work hard, and I’ll support you.’ When I was looking at colleges, we didn’t have much money, but she told me, ‘You don’t have to have a swimming scholarship to go to school.’ I found that really supportive in that she just wanted me to be happy. That’s motivational.”