the parts you can't live without

I could live without gymnastics.  I could live without contacts and glasses in & on the eyes of a 7 yr-old.  I could live without back to back meets.  I could live without travel & traffic, finding strange gyms in strange places.  Parking woes and cold coffee.  What I can't live without is her. And she lives for all this. 

Cold morning start

See her down there so small.  We had 2 snags today with the eyes.  We couldn't get contacts in and then before the meet started Beach got her glasses stuck in her hair but no one noticed for awhile & I watched helplessly from behind the glass doors with the big red sign that forbid parents from entering.  In the end I managed to grab her coach & let her know.  Beach was brought to me & I entangled the glasses and redid the fancy hair.  Dust off the ego and no harm done...

She fell in her beam routine today.  Which isn't listed as a snag because falling is part of the game.  She wasn't even doing anything that hard & she almost never falls. The parents all gasped.  I might have sworn, I don't know I wasn't listening.  No one thought Beach would fall.  But she got back on finished strong, Silver Medal Strong, and later she told me a glint off the side of her glasses threw her off  & added "No big deal." You're right kid, falling is no big deal but getting back up sure is.

She & her team mates controlled the podium.  Beach taking Gold in the All Around for 8-9 yr olds with 2 Silvers & 2 Bronzes for her beloved gym.  But look at them, they are all babies, sweet little monkeys, each one of them hoping & dreaming...~sigh~ oh, the hopes & dreams of little girls :) We have the best team.

                                                                    See? The very best.

 This is a shot of Boo's Silver from Beam.  You can see her saluting with flare! You can see GTC holding firm the medals line.  

I could think of a thousand different ways I would want to spend my Saturdays and yet not one different way I would want to spend my life.

"It's hard to believe
As I watch you breathe
Your mind drifts and weaves
When you dream,
what do you dream about?
Do you dream about
music or mathematics
or planets too far for the eye?"

"When You Dream" by Barenaked Ladies