A Journey Must Begin With A Single Step (Part 2): All was quiet...then the music started. The little girl stood there in the middle of the ice rink near the little blue dot, center ice, as the ice arena towered all around her. This was her shining moment that she had been waiting for weeks on end and it had finally arrived. Surely not in the way she had anticipated, without her coach, without her coach’s guidance, and without her coach’s support. The spectators, silent as can be, watched in anticipation as the little girl stood there like a frozen little statue on the ice. Then as soon as the music gave the little girl the cue to start, several weeks of training kicked in, and without a pause, she started her routine. As graceful as graceful can be, she made her way to one side of the ice rink, turned around, and made her way back to the other side of the ice rink. A few hand waves here, a few arm waves there, a small spin and in a few seconds, her skating routine had come to an end. The entire spectator audience that remained deafly quiet throughout her entire routine suddenly broke into a loud applause. A little smile appeared on the little girls face as she made her way off the ice. Mom, dad, and family broke into a loud cheer as their little girl stepped off the ice. Dad, who stood there, absolutely stunned of what his little girl had just accomplished under the unforeseen circumstances leading up to her performance, became quite emotional as he made his way towards his little girl. That was a lot of fun Mommy, I can not wait to do my next competition” are some of the first words that came out of the little girls mouth, as she appeared emotionally teary eyed when she saw her Mother. The little girl was then greeted by her Father, who could not hold back his emotions, as he hugged her little girl. A smile appeared on her face after her brother and sister gave her a few small stuffed animals. Then, the little girl and family sat there and waited for her score to be calculated by the judges. After several minutes, the judges results came in and this little girl had won her first competitive figure skating metal. It was not a Gold Metal, It was not a Silver Metal, nor was it a Bronze Metal. It was a 4th Place Metal, but the little girl was so PROUD of what she had accomplished, it did not matter at that point in time, what place she had finished in her skating competition. For she had stepped on the ice as a little girl, but had stepped off the ice as a CHAMPION! After the figure skating competition, Mom and Dad asked their little girl where she wanted to eat for lunch. As most kids would reply, she replied, McDonald’s for a Happy Meal, with a big smile on her face. Then Mom and Dad then made their way to the McDonalds located in Parker. Both the little girl and her brother were quite excited about getting a Happy Meal but as soon as Mom pulled up to the check out window, the McDonald’s employee told her that their computer had suddenly shut down and that they could not accept any credit/debit cards. It had looked as though this little girl’s CHAMPION luncheon had been spoiled by another unforeseen circumstance. But surprising enough, the little girl still had a little smile on her face even though for a brief moment, it appeared that her McDonald’s Happy Meal lunch was over. Grandma, who also accompanied Mom and Dad to the ice skating competition, saved the day, by making a cash transaction. Thank you Grandma!! When the family got home to their Parker home, the little girl got out of the car and made her way into the house with her father. As they walked in, the little girl turned to her father and whispered “Dad, that was AWESOME!” admiring the Metal around her neck that she had won earlier that day. As I reflect upon the events of that day, I am just amazed at what that little girl had accomplished. She had less than a year of ice skating experience under her belt and was unfamiliar with the entire competitive figure skating process as was Mom and Dad. When she knew that her coach was going to be a no show, she remained calm, cool, and collected. Her demeanor never changed and the smile never left her face. She was asked to do the unthinkable and just go out in front of a large crowd of spectators and perform a skating routine she had only performed in front of her coach and Mother. What this little girl had done by taking a Single Step on the ice and skating out to the center of the ice rink was absolutely COURAGEOUS. Nowadays, the word “Professional seems to be reserved for athletes that make extremely large incomes, but somehow the word “Professional for a large part of the time, does not seem to fit the personas of these athletes. In my eyes, this little girl was a true PROFESSIONAL in the way she handled all of the days unforeseen circumstances. When the day threw her lemons, she made lemonade and shared it with all of spectators at the ice arena as well as her family. As you may of guessed by now or maybe not, this little girl is my daughter. I decided to write a blog about my daughter “KK” (which is short for Kitter Kat) because I am so PROUD of what she was able to accomplish on the ice in such a short period of time and how nonchalantly she was able to approach and overcome each hiccup she encounter throughout the day. We did find out what happened to her skating coach the morning of KK’s skating competition. While driving from downtown Denver to the ice rink, her coach was involved in a car accident which sent him to the hospital that morning. The great news is that KK’s coach is going to recover and will start training with KK once again to get her ready for her next ice skating competition. A Journey Must Begin With A Single Step…It always has and always will. My daughter’s journey began with a Single Step onto the ice where she found herself in the spotlight for a just a very short period of time. Even though her stay in the spotlight was brief, it is going to last a lifetime. I am so glad that she decided to take that Single Step. I can’t wait until she opens up her next Chinese fortune cookie! Love, Dad
Posted on: Wed, 19 Mar 2014 05:47:00 +0000
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