Tonight my older daughter worked out for two hours at our local gym, which we joined at her behest a few weeks ago. She exercises every day now, often for more than an hour.

Most parents, I think, would be proud of any child with this level of commitment, and I certainly am. But this turn of events has defied all expectations I ever had as a parent for this child. I think maybe an alien invaded her body.

She is good -- even great -- at many things, but sports are not among them. In all my years as her mother (now numbering more than 15), she has never taken more than a passing interest in anything physical. I once enrolled her in yoga classes to help her get some kind of physical activity in her life. She hated it and ultimately refused to go.

I certainly never expected this child to join a sport in high school, much less decide that she would work to be good at it.

Rather than pursue an enterprise at which she might be naturally talented, she's turned her back on almost every activity in high school save -- get this -- water polo. Water polo. An aggressive game of strength, endurance and power. It's a lot of fun to watch, and, apparently, pretty fun to play, too. She wants to be in the game.

But I wonder, will her years of lethargy and distain for sports eventually overwhelm her nascent sense of athleticism? Will she ever be good enough to play a varsity sport, even if she does keep working out for an hour a day?

Will she at some point realize that if she gave the same effort to something at which she most likely does have real talent, she might go farther?

Or am I wrong altogether? Has she found something within herself that not even those closest to her ever imagined was there?

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