I should be in Florida right now.\u00a0 I\u2019m maybe just a tad bitter about the fact that instead, I am home in Missouri.<\/p>\n
Four-ish years ago, if you had told me what I\u2019d be missing out on right now, I would have said I know I\u2019d be bummed to be missing a trip to Florida with my girlfriends for a long weekend.\u00a0 But there\u2019s way more to it than that.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve missed out on races I\u2019ve trained hard for, it\u2019s painful.\u00a0 I was trained for a marathon in March. It was canceled due to this Coronavirus mess.\u00a0 But this time around, Coronavirus messed with my daughter.<\/p>\n
Those four-ish years ago, Ally decided to try competitive cheer.\u00a0 She\u2019d tried a couple other sports, but nothing had really stuck.\u00a0 And I thought for sure her desire to cheer came from a place of watching too much Dance Moms.\u00a0 She always said she just liked watching the dance part of the show, not all the mom drama.\u00a0 But when I showed up with Ally to our first out of town competition in Louisville, I was pretty convinced I would have a run in with Abby Lee Miller.<\/p>\n
I felt like a fish out of water.\u00a0 I had no clue how to help Ally with her hair, or her make-up.\u00a0 My tight monthly budget went out the window with tuition, uniforms, comp fees, travel expenses.\u00a0 Ugh.<\/p>\n
On top of all that, I didn\u2019t know any of the moms.\u00a0 Well, except for my ex-husband\u2019s new wife since Ally\u2019s step-sister was also on the same team.\u00a0 It was uncomfortable, to say the very least.<\/p>\n
As the first season progressed, something became very clear.\u00a0 While Ally\u2019s team was a part of an established St. Louis gym, it was the first year they\u2019d filled a team of the level Ally fell into.\u00a0 It was, shall we say, a building year.\u00a0 Her team was not great. They came in last at every single competition that season.<\/p>\n
Ally and I drove lots of miles together that season.\u00a0 We tried to meet up with Ally\u2019s teammates and their parents occasionally but mostly it was just the two of us, doing our thing.\u00a0 She was having fun learning new skills and making friends, I was trying to survive.\u00a0 I wiped a lot of tears and gave a lot of speeches about how it was a learning experience. I talked about how learning to lose graciously was important, and it made you appreciate winning so much more.<\/p>\n
The season finally came to an end in Columbus, OH and after sitting through an awards ceremony where the girls came in last, again, we had a nine-hour drive back to St. Louis.\u00a0 We pulled in well after midnight and got up for work and school the next morning.\u00a0 I was so glad that was over.<\/p>\n
But, it wasn\u2019t over.\u00a0 A few weeks later were tryouts and Ally was ready to go back for more.\u00a0 I was proud that she didn\u2019t want to give up after such a demoralizing first year.\u00a0 She said, \u201cMy goal next year is to improve my skills. And someday I want to compete at Summit.\u201d\u00a0 I had no clue what she was even talking about.<\/p>\n
The next year, she started the season and immediately became attached at the hip to her soul sister.\u00a0 She and Sav were inseparable from the start.\u00a0 I finally got to meet Sav, and her mom DJ, at the first competition of the season in Nashville. The first showing of the season was shaky, but as the season progressed, we could tell the girls were gelling and had a chance to do well.\u00a0 Ally and Sav bonded with a couple of the other girls, and I enjoyed getting to know their moms.\u00a0 I was glad to discover that they didn\u2019t stir the pot like the moms on Dance Moms, and they were actually very down to earth.<\/p>\n
By the time Spring Break rolled around, the girls still didn\u2019t have their bid to Summit, but they were so close.\u00a0 They could taste it.\u00a0 They wanted it.\u00a0 An email went out to the parents proposing an extra competition to give the girls one last shot at earning their way to the big comp at the end of the season at Disney\u2019s ESPN zone.\u00a0 The girls had worked hard, they\u2019d earned it, and the parents made it happen.\u00a0 Athletes traveled with other families, some families canceled spring break trips, we signed the forms, paid the fees and went off to KC for one more shot.<\/p>\n
It didn\u2019t go great.\u00a0 They girls thought they blew it.\u00a0 But the following Monday the girls got the news, they got their bid and were invited to Summit.<\/p>\n
We rented a house with some of the other girls and their mom\u2019s over Mother\u2019s Day weekend in 2018.\u00a0 I had been married less than 2 weeks when Ally and I boarded a flight to Orlando at 7:50pm on a Thursday night that could have been mistaken for a Cheer Legendz charter flight.\u00a0 We landed in Florida, took a shuttle to the house, threw some frozen pizzas in the oven for a 2am dinner and stayed up most of the night, just excited to be there.<\/p>\n
The whole weekend was amazing.\u00a0 The girls competed and did well on their first day, but unfortunately, they didn\u2019t make it to finals.\u00a0 We made the best of it by spending Mother\u2019s Day sipping mimosas by the pool and then Mothers and Daughters went off to the Magic Kingdom.<\/p>\n
We laughed, we cried, we bonded.\u00a0 We slept too little and we had the time of our lives.<\/p>\n
Year 3.\u00a0 Ally continued to push herself and improve her skills.\u00a0 I was so happy that she had found an athletic passion to pursue and the camaraderie of a team.<\/p>\n
Despite the fact that our group had girls split up over 3 different teams, we began traveling to most of the competitions with our little pack.\u00a0 Sometimes we got home at 4am, sometimes we drove through blizzards and ice storms, counting how many cars were off the road in the ditch.\u00a0 We cheered on all the girls.\u00a0 We celebrated birthdays, and other milestones, on the road. We supported each other through highs and lows, we came together in good times and bad.\u00a0 But we had found our people and we had become a family.<\/p>\n
At the end of that season, only Madalyn\u2019s team had earned their way back to Florida.\u00a0 Ally landed her back tuck right before tryouts and she was ready to bring it.<\/p>\n
That brings us to this year.\u00a0 The 2019-2020 season.<\/p>\n
When the e-mail announcement went out for team placements, we were all on pins and needles.\u00a0 Gabriella had given up competitive cheer in place of HS cheer.\u00a0 But we had our fingers crossed that Madalyn, Savanna and Ally would be placed together.\u00a0 We were hoping for several other girls as well. And they all came together.<\/p>\n
A cheer went up (pun intended) through all of St. Louis when we got the word.\u00a0 Cougarz.\u00a0 We were ready and we knew this team was something special.\u00a0 There was no doubt we were making our way back to Summit.<\/p>\n
At the first comp of the season in Nashville, the girls proved us right.\u00a0 They got their bid.\u00a0 And one by one, the other Cheer Legendz teams got theirs, as well.\u00a0 The season was going swimmingly.<\/p>\n
In the middle of the season however, the girls were one by one, coming to the conclusion that it was going to be their last season cheering.\u00a0 And then another announcement came.\u00a0 This was the last season for Cheer Legendz too. The owners were selling the gym to ICE athletics and this was our farewell tour.\u00a0 \u00a0We all agreed, we were going out with a bang.<\/p>\n
In January, we made flight reservations and rented a house.\u00a0 We started talking plans and getting excited.\u00a0 We invited a couple other moms and their girls to join us.\u00a0 Even some of the grandmas were going to join in the fun.\u00a0 A girls\u2019 weekend with Cheer and Disney, we were over the moon.<\/p>\n
And then, in early March, as talk of a pandemic started swirling, our plans started to crumble.\u00a0 We held on to hope that Summit would stand.\u00a0 Or even if it got pushed back, we might still be able to make it work.\u00a0 I waited until last week to finally cancel my plane ticket; I was in complete denial.<\/p>\n
Summit is still being held this year, in June now, but all the big gyms have pulled out.\u00a0 And frankly, we still really don\u2019t even know what next month will look like.\u00a0 Our girls haven\u2019t worked out at the gym since before Spring Break.\u00a0 The dream is over.<\/p>\n
But, is it?<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s the thing.\u00a0 Yes, this was a totally crappy and anti-climactic way for the chapter to end.\u00a0 The chapter of Ally\u2019s cheer career, the end of Cheer Legendz, the way we were supposed to go out on such a high note.\u00a0 Ok, so yes, the dream for all that is over.\u00a0 But what it has led to is so many other dreams.<\/p>\n
My little girl learned what it feels like to be part of a team.\u00a0 She learned what it\u2019s like to love a sport with her whole heart and she learned how to pursue excellence.\u00a0 She learned how to lose and how to win. She learned how to pick herself up and keep on going, and how to hold her head high. Her cheer years gave us so many fun memories during her high school years that have bonded us in a way I could never have imagined.\u00a0 Cheer gave us friends who are like family.<\/p>\n
On Saturday, we were supposed to be in Florida for the girls to compete.\u00a0 We didn\u2019t get to do that.\u00a0 But Anthony, one of the coaches\/owners of Cheer Legendz was celebrating a birthday.\u00a0 His partner Ryan organized a birthday parade, out in front of Cheer Legendz.\u00a0 We made signs and decorated the car.\u00a0 We met up with our little crew in Chesterfield valley and then we sat in line for Over An Hour to say Happy Birthday to Anthony.<\/p>\n
But it was more than a birthday parade.\u00a0 We waved to so many familiar faces.\u00a0 We gathered in the parking lot and took socially distanced pictures.\u00a0 We got to say good-bye to the season that was supposed to be.\u00a0 It was what we all needed.<\/p>\n
Kind of like the season, I don\u2019t really know how to bring this to a close.\u00a0 But I do know that I will never forget how much Ally\u2019s cheer years have given me and my girl.\u00a0 And even if you don\u2019t know how the dream will end, always always ALWAYS pursue it with everything you\u2019ve got.\u00a0 Because That\u2019s what it feels like to be a Legend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I should be in Florida right now.\u00a0 I\u2019m maybe just a tad bitter about the fact that instead, I am home in Missouri. Four-ish years ago, if you had told me what I\u2019d be missing out on right now, I would have said I know I\u2019d be bummed to be missing a trip to Florida […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-883","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-randomthoughts"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4eO4v-ef","jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":901,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.ramblingrunnergirl.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}