It’s 12:30 a.m. and I’m still at work. We had a late night here, but then I stayed later. To be by the computer at 12:01 and sign my kids up for county swimming lessons.

The county swimming classes at Claude Moore Recreation Center—and, I’ve heard, at the other county pools—fill up instantly. Last year I tried to sign my kids up at about 8 a.m. on the day registration opened, and all the classes were already full. So I knew what I had to do this year – get in the minute registration opened at 12:01 a.m.

So I got ready in advance, practiced logging in to WebTrac to make sure my user name worked, and then sat there as the seconds counted down to midnight, fingers poised over the keyboard. Success! We got in. I was done registering by 12:05 a.m. By 12:18 a.m., one of our classes (we needed the most popular weekend time slots because of work) is completely full. The other class already has 5 registered and the maximum is 6.

This is crazy. Loudoun needs more options for swim classes.