one.two.eight.eight.five.

12,885.

What does that number represent to you?

The amount of money you wish you had in your bank account?
Your zip code? (If you lived in NY)
The price of a new car?
The number of minutes you spend in school in a month?
The number of seconds in a Harry Potter movie?
How many pages it seems are in your new English AP textbook?
The amount of undergrads at SFA University?
Miles it takes driving from Houston to NYC nine times?

All of those are very good guesses, except that isn't what 12,885 means to me.

That is the number of hours I have (guesstimation) spent at the pool since I joined competitive swimming when I was 4.

Yes. Twelve THOUSAND eight hundred and eighty five HOURS.

From ages 4-6 I estimated I only spent an hour a week at the pool. I know that is a way low-estimate because in the summer, I spent atleast an hour a DAY at the pool.
When I was 7 I started taking private lessons, so I guesstimated the hours a week to 6. Becuase I lived at the pool when in the summer, plus swam summer league, plus started private lessons.
Ages 8-9 is when I first started club swimming. So, 7 ish hours a week? I know in the winter it wasn't that long, but summer was WAY over that amount.
10-13 (upper elementary/middle school) I was hardcore swimming club, about 2 hours a day, 4 days a week. So 8 hours a week.
Since I was 14 I averaged up to 28 hours a week at the pool between Varsity Swimming, Water Polo, Team YES, meets, tourneys, games, etc.

So... since I fell in love with the sport, I have spent 12,885 hours at the pool. That's ridiculous.