March On

We are winding down our time here in New York.  In a few weeks we will (hopefully) be packing up and moving our circus west into Pennsylvania.  It will be very bittersweet.

Last night my daughter competed in her second to last meet as a "New Yorker."  We've been competing with this team for three years, and the girls are a family.  There is love and annoyance and bickering and laughs.

A family indeed.

At the meet, we were nervous because we were competing in a level we've only ever competed in once before.  This level meant different skills and different rules; it was a "try it and see" mentality.  I should also add it was a State Championship.  Definitely an interesting place to test the waters in a new club of gymnastics.

What we learned about this level was that the rules and requirements were very different.  I'm still not sure what they are, but it won't matter because we're moving to a new gymnastics team in a few weeks.  My little gymnast did excellent in three events, blowing us away with skills she was nervous to compete.

Her one event she didn't excel in was usually her best, the uneven bars.

It was tough to see her wobble and struggle more than usual, especially during an event she medals in most often.  I held my breath when she almost fell jumping from the low bar to the high bar, and my heart broke as I watched her fall forward on her dismount.  All in all, the routine was solid with two definite "heart racing" moments.

My daughter, however, kept going.  She shook it off as we tell kids to do and marched on to her next three events.

Amazing.

We left with two second places, one third and a third place all around.  No medal on the uneven bars, her usual win.  It was quite a night, and we celebrated with dinner at the diner.  We celebrated her competing new skills and trying a new level.  We gained experience and realized that not every level is for everyone, and sometimes our strengths are our weaknesses.

This is true in everything.

As for us. We march on.  Packing, cleaning, sorting and having mini heart attacks as we prepare to move.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everyone!