Remebering Melanie....

This post is off-topic from skating. This blog is also about my little girl. And well this post is about the loss she is going through right now. We just got back from the funeral home an hour or so ago for my daughter's friend and classmate, Melanie. We ate dinner and I got my little girl settled into bed. There have been just a few times in my life where I've actually been afraid for my life and well-being. When I was pregnant with my daughter I was thrown from a neighbor's horse. He had teased me about being scared and pretty much forced me into riding this horse he had just bought. I knew better. But I couldn't stand his teasing. While I was being bucked I remember thinking this is not how I want to die at 23 years old. I haven't ridden since. Occasionally people like to tell me about the proverbial horse. Well let me tell ya - proverbial horses can't kill ya but real ones can. I know that accidents happen and we can't live our lives being afraid. After all, living is the only worth dying for. There are some fates worse than death like actually having to live through being bucked, thrown, stomped and drug to death (or nearly to death). My God, what that poor little girl must have went through waiting to die.
Friday night my daughter sat down and wrote out her list of people to invite to her birthday party. She wrote Melanie's name at the top of her list. When I told her that Melanie had died she said now Melanie won't be able to come my birthday party. A few more thoughts from my daughter.. Melanie won't be able to turn eight. Melanie won't get to be what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said Thank you Mom for taking care of me and not letting me die. I told her that Melanie's parents didn't let her die. She's been really sad and clingy the past 2 days. I slept with her Sunday night - something I rarely do. I know she's scared now that she could die too. We all think we are too young to die.
Hug your babies whether they are one years old or seven or twenty or fifty. You are never too young to die. Tell all the people that you love "I love you" and listen when they say it. When I tell my brother I love you he says "I love you too but I'm not going to die; you're not going to die."

Random Thoughts about Nationals

Now about Nationals. I can't believe I waited a week to say anything. The shock of it all has had time to wear off. I know I'm not the only one who feels bad for Johnny Weir. I've gotten email about it. I know not everybody loves Johnny Weir but I think this sport really, really needs people like Johnny Weir to set the ice on fire. I mean isn't that the direction we want Figure Skating to go? Now that I've seen the Nationals Exhibition - and Johnny Weir skating "Ave Maria"I have to say it just makes me like him even more. I can't help it... Go Johnny!

McLaughlin and Brubaker - they really tore up the ice too, huh? I'm not sure how many more performances we'll be seeing of Baldwin & Inoue.. but that was some moment on the ice for those two. Maybe they stole a little of McLaughlin & Brubaker's thunder?

The ladies - the 14 yo Mirai Nagasu and 15 yo Rachel Flatt. A whole new generation of skaters coming into their spotlights. I have a feeling there will be even more of that.

And you know we love Tanith & Ben. Which is saying a LOT. Because sometimes I think my daughter just pulls for whoever is against whoever I'm pulling for. Not just figure skating but in all sports. We love Tanith & Ben - such incredible passion... Absolutely beautiful skaters.


***For those of you checking the blog to see if I've posted "Getcha Head in the Game" - I'm haven't and I'm not. Not yet anyway. Its been shortened to a minute version for this competition. And I think I'm going to wait until it is the full program to share. I did take my camera to the rink to try and video her during her lesson but she was pretty small in the view finder and I don't think it would turn out well unless I was skating myself and 'chasing her around the ice' as I like to call my filming. So that said... sorry you're prolly going to have to wait til April to see it.

Holiday Video

My daughter's coach gave me a video today of the whole competition from December. It played in my dvd player. I was able to record the tv with my camera (which works some of the time but not all of the time; it worked today). So I'm sharing. Remember that she had a really off day and this is the competition where she fell a lot. I'm excited to be able to share. I know its not the best quality though. Also sorry that I didn't turn off my camera before it added the next skaters names.

Nothing to Share

I guess this is going to be a venting post. My dvd of the Christmas competition - I don't even know what I did with it. It won't play in my computer, won't play in any of my dvd players. I should've just gave it to my parents. Or my brother. At least that way somebody would be able to actually watch it. And my pictures from High School Musical on Ice. None of my daughter's friends' parents have emailed me any pictures. I don't think their parents read my blog so its probably okay for me to complain about 'em. But I'm out there trying to skate. And talk to the cast. And juggling 3 cameras so I can take pictures for everybody else. And I end up with Nada. Its not fair.
Good News. The music is cut to "Getcha Head in the Game" - I've got to come up with a costume. Seems simple enough. But a red basketball jersey and shorts to fit an 8 year old. Ought to say "Wildcats" or "East" on it. A number maybe 14. or 4. Is 4 Chad's number? Or maybe she could just have her own number? At any rate.. I'm pretty glad I don't have to build a fluxcapacitor. Or draw popcorn (you know like one kernel at a time) my daughter skated to "Take me out to the ball game" a couple of years ago. Yep I think I learned my lesson on that one.
Lots of incoherent sentences strung together. .. No pictures... No video. I just figured I needed to say something - its been long time since Christmas.
Aren't you glad you read the blog today?

Merry Christmas!!

Well - I have a video from the Holiday competition that I really want to share. But I can't get it to play in our dvd players nor on my computer. So - I'm hoping I can get some technical help from my sister she's kind of good at that stuff. Hopefully I'll be able to share but even if she can help it will probably be after the holidays before I can post the video. At any rate, I wanted to wish anyone checking out the blog a Merry, Merry Christmas. Happy Hanukkah or whatever else you celebrate this season. And check back soon and you can see my baby fall down a LOT in her program. Its really, really cute. I don't think in over 4 years of competing she's ever fell that more than once in a competition. Trust me - its absolutely adorable. And it'll make you smile I promise. Such is life though - a series of falling down - and getting back up and moving forward. I noticed a poster at our rink some time ago that said "There's nothing like ice to teach children about standing on their own two feet." I was reminded of that poster as I watched her skate.
Happy Holidays to everyone.

High School Musical on Ice - the Aftermath

I have to say that I was really impressed by the West Coast Cast of High School Musical the Ice Tour. What a great group of people. They skated with our kids (and moi) for about an hour. We took loads of photos. I took pictures with two of my daughter's friends' moms' cameras. And zero pictures with the camera I brought. It was hard enough juggling two cameras without adding a third. My daughter's best friend had to work their camera for me. I'm sure I looked real intelligent needing a 9 year old to operate a camera for me. And constantly having to say - "hey honey, can you fix this for me?" Not quite as bad as when I mowed down a 3 year old girl about yea big. I saw her dart out in front of me. And well I have crappy reaction time. When I see something about to happen I tend to think 'oh that's gonna hurt' and before I get to 'that' - its already hurting. To add insult to injury I apologized by saying "sorry, baby." If you want to really piss off a 3 year old try calling them a baby.

Did I tell you how great the cast was? Everyone was so friendly and they posed for lots of pictures. They showed off their skills for the kids. Even better they let our kids show off for them (and cheered for them too). After skating with the kids. They sat at a table and a line formed for autographs... some of the kids went thru twice. A lot of kids were getting their skates signed and some of them who were near the front wanted to go back thru again to get theirs signed as well..:) They have some really cool looking signatures. We grabbed some pizza at our rink before heading to the show.
The show was great. They combined two almost 2 hour long episodes into two 45 minute acts. Kelsy played the Playmaker/Narrator. She did a great job. I only saw one fall the entire show. The guy who played Chad dropped the ball twice during "Getcha Head in the Game" - but hey nobody is perfect. There was tons going on on the ice. I think it was a show I could've watched several times and got something different out of it each time.

Crazy Skating Dreams

I want YOU to share your crazy skating dreams. The other night I had the weirdest dream that caused me all kinds of stress. Now I don't know about you, but I stay stressed enough in real life without having to be stressed in my dreams. So we are at this really big competition. I don't know if it was a big Open or supposed to be Regionals. But we were in this huge arena. It didn't look like any rink my daughter has ever done a competition at. It was more like a professional Hockey Arena. I'm stuck way up in the nosebleeds about as far away as possible as I can get from my child. Some of the competitions she has done have No Parent Zones. I'm SO not a fan of those. My daughter is down on the ice and the music begins to play. And she begins to skate. But the music isn't right. It is her music from 2 years ago. The length is just about a minute long from the level that she was in then. The music sounds different than her current music so not conducive to the moves (jumps, spins, spirals, etc) that she needs to be able to do. Think Cinderella, IMO a great cut of music, it ended with the actual ending with the music to "I'd rather rescue myself" (sans vocals which was good for current level but was allowed 2 years ago though it was cut without vocals per then coach's request). Because this is music she recognizes as 'hers' she begins skating. And skates program to music that's not long enough, not working with her current program. I'm hyperventilating up in the nosebleeds. And then running down the bleachers. I didn't think the judges would let her reskate as she didn't know it wasn't right. And because I wasn't even sure we had the right music at all.

Now what causes crazy dreams like that. The season has ended. We've been taking the off-season pretty relaxed this year with no shows or anything. There is a small competition that our rink is having at Christmas. The program is pretty much her old program from the Fall so no new cut of music or moves to learn. A few minor changes but nothing to stress over.