I want to be loved

Theodore: I want to be loved and known like you are within the swim team management organization. I want to be on the inside; my family and I feel excluded, unloved and overlooked by the swim team clique to which you belong. By the way how do you pronounce the word clique?

Answerman: The most common Northern Virginia pronunciation is click. When I was a kid; I pronounced it the Frenchy way "cleek" which is also OK according to Merriam Webster. But anyway, the dictionary defines the word clique in 2 ways. The first is "a narrow exclusive circle or group of persons" This is probably how you mean it. I can understand how you feel. When my wife and I were new to the swim team, half the time I couldn't find my kids or identify them when they were swimming. Everything at a swim meet looked liked semi-organized chaos. I didn't realize how much planning and effort it took to provide this activity for my children. All the people who were making things happen always seemed to hang out together and have really cool interaction; of which I was not a part. This was not something that the group at the time intended to do, it was just that there was so much communication needed and effort coordinated that this same group of experienced people ended up hanging around each other and talking all the time.
As far as being loved goes, my wife assures me that very few people on the swim team mgt. group actually like me, let alone love me, but this is OK since as you know it is difficult just to "Love the one your with" a lyric line from Crosby, Stills and Nash(possibly Young on some albums) a frontline, late 1960's Rock and Roll group. Yeah. Anyway, when you see some supposedly cool conversations taking place, it is probably more like "Hey, you forgot to do...", and When are you going to do?" and Who is going to bring...Etc...? As my wife and I volunteered more and became helpers (instead of just consumers of the effort of others) we were drawn in to this circle of love that you feel excluded from. My new summer friend Martha (not her real name) says that this phenomenon is common in PTA, church and Scouting etc. If you want to be appreciated, loved, and prayed for; all you got to do is volunteer to do more than the minimum and people will consider you in their will and among their closest associates. The second definition of clique is " a group held together by common interests" This could be you in the near future. Hopefully as you and your family learn more about swimming and the effort required to provide this great experience for your child, the children of others and your community, you will leap at every opportunity to be of service to others. If you do, I guarantee that you will be drawn in to the abyss of love that is the swim team ruling junta clique festival.

Theodore: Those last few lines were so sickeningly sweet and "take one for the team-ish" that I feel nauseous.

Monique: I thought that they were full of meaning and I am getting refrigerator magnets made that capture those sentiments.

Theodore: Send me a couple.

Answerman: Yeah.