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Well, I was afraid this would happen. Cheerleading would start and I would become absent from the blog. Even though I’ve coached for six years I still cannot believe just how much time it takes up. I feel like I’m in the middle of running a marathon that will last until at least mid October. There are lots of good things in the mix, but there is just SO MUCH TO DO. Oh well, must plunge forward and start crossing things off the list. Even though I’m here near the beginning I do feel like the end is in sight. Even though the end is in spring and we are just sort of entering fall. Apparently I’m quite far sighted in this these days.
In the meantime I thought I’d post a link to a song I’ve heard on the radio recently and really enjoyed. I heard it again this morning right when I was arriving to work and was with it enough to google it when I got to my desk. It is The Only Exception by Paramore. I don’t think it is going to let me link the video here, but that’s the link to the official video on YouTube. You should listen to it if you haven’t already. I haven’t really listened to Paramore much (at least that I know of), but I think I’ll have to check out what else they have to offer after hearing this.
Guess what. Cheerleading starts today. But I promise that I will try my hardest from doing a repeat of last year at this time. I have decided to take it a day at a time and to focus on getting through chunks of the season rather than panicking about the year as a whole. I tried to do some end of summer cleaning and organizing yesterday and I’m feeling pretty good about where I’m starting from. Plus I went to the grocery store and actually tried to stock up on some meal options to at least get me through this week.
All right. One day at a time people, one day at a time.
Well. It’s been a little less than a year since my last post. Which was written just a few days before cheerleading season began. And I just recently got home from cheer camp for this year and am on my official “break” from coaching right now. Which means I suddenly have time and a desire to actually write on my blog. One could gather some thoughts/ideas from that pattern, but we’ll leave it at that for now.
The truth is, this has been a difficult year overall. Cheerleading had its ups and quite a few downs. My co-coach and I are always somewhat mystified by the way each year always (ALWAYS) brings new situations/problems/joys/anxieties. We never (NEVER) have a year that just flies on by without any new and hard situation to tackle. This past year seemed to bring them in droves. But, I survived! And I’m planning to coach again next year (although to be honest, part of me feels like I’m crazy for doing it).
My health has given me quite a few problems too. Starting last fall, I had incredible pain that was brought on by tension headaches – really tension head/neck/shoulder/back aches. These lasted a good 4 to 5 months and still affect my everyday life to some degree. I am extremely thankful for physical therapy that basically just involves getting massaged in the specific problem area for an hour or so. My PT saved my sanity (or what was left of it). In more recent months I’ve been dealing with being really tired most of the time. I’m in the process of figuring out the cause (if there is one) and trying to deal with it. It is affecting my ability to be at work on time and stay focused throughout the day. Not the greatest when my outside of work schedule doesn’t always leave room for making up hours.
And then to add insult to injury, my parents both had health issues of their own. Mom had a bunionectomy right before Christmas (lucky for her I was able to be in town to help nurse her back to health – or really just keep her from wanting to kill my dad). Dad had a heart attack in March that he thankfully seems to be making a full recovery from, but my hope is that he is truly learning from the experience as well and will do a better job taking care of himself. We shall see.
Now enough with the whining. There have been exceptional (EXCEPTIONAL!) things that have happened as well. In October, I was able to travel to Italy with an old college friend. We did a week long Rick Steves tour in Rome and then we traveled up to Cinque Terre for a few days on our own. The tour was incredible and I fell in love with Rome. We saw and did so many amazing things, I still get a little giddy when I think about it. Like the fact that I’ve actually stood in the Colosseum and walked through the Forum. These were things I studied in college and to actually see them in person and breathe it all in was amazing. My very favorite thing we did on the tour was go to the Borghese Gallery. The statues by Bernini that are held there are some of the most fantastic pieces of art I have ever seen. So just a tidbit in case you ever find yourself in Rome wondering what to do. Oh, and another tidbit…the hot men work at the Vatican (and no, I don’t mean the Pope). I enjoyed our time in Cinque Terre as well, but to be honest I was so ready to be blown away because of all the wonderful things I had heard about it that once I got there it was a tiny bit of a let down. Plus we were pretty exhausted after our tour (there was lots and lots and lots of walking).
Other great things have happened this year as well. Lots of friends have had babies. And really cute babies at that. I was able to be in Alaska at Christmas and got to celebrate my niece’s 5th birthday with her. I served on a board for cheer coaches in the state. Which okay, does not sound like that much fun, but it helped me to be more involved with cheer on a wider level which is something I’ve been wanting for a long time. And along with that, I also trained to be a judge for cheer competitions and passed all four of the testing points on the first try. I’m looking forward to judging competitions this fall/winter. And this last spring I sort of got promoted. Technically I am still the administrative assistant, but I used to have receptionist responsibilities on top of that and it was getting to the point of being too much to balance. So I got to move up to a different office and I got a raise. All good things.
Anyway, I’d like to keep blogging on a regular basis, but I always seem to cave under the pressure. “What pressure?” you ask. Um. Just the pressure I put on myself. Because I am a perfectionist who only likes to do things if I can do them right and well and you know, perfectly. So of course we’ll see how this goes, but hopefully it goes somewhere. Maybe my next post can be less than 10 1/2 months from now? That’d be a good start.
Cheer practice starts this coming Thursday. As in 3 whole days away. Basically 75 hours from now. I have mixed emotions. First, I am sad that my summer is coming to an end. It has been a good one. Unusually hot, but still good. On the other hand, I am excited to see the girls and get geared up and work hard and have them live up to their potential. I am excited about the propects of what this squad is capable of and how far they can go. But, I’m also worried that they aren’t going to push themselves much and will rebell against me pushing them. We shall see. I’m gearing up for a big pep talk first thing on Thursday.
Besides getting ready for practices to begin, I’m trying to jam an incredible amount of stuff into the next couple of days with a somewhat weird schedule. Sounds pretty much the same as my life usually is from this time through mid March. I never understand how other people can get so much stuff done! I figure they must not sleep. But I shouldn’t complain. This weekend I was talking to some friends about facebook (which seems to have become overrun with people these days) and told them that my pet peeve is when people will write a status like “I have so much to do today! I don’t know how I’ll ever get it all done.” And the response in my head is always, “Well, get off the damn facebook and maybe you’ll have a chance!” Of course I never actually say that in a comment. Because that would be impolite and confrontational. And then I’d get uncomfortable.
Anyway, I’m just reporting my schedule to you. I’m not complaining. So no one needs to confront me about the fact that I’m blogging right now instead of actually getting my crap together and getting something accomplished.
I can’t believe that tomorrow is the last day in June. It went by really fast. But looking back I realize I did so much and had a good time throughout it. Three cheers for June!
I just got back from cheer camp on Saturday. It was by far the best camp I’ve taken my squad to in the last 5 years that I’ve been a coach. It was a fairly small camp because some other schools that had been signed up were still in school due to making up for snow days. Can you imagine? Still in school during the 4th week of June? Ugh. But it made camp nicer for the teams that did make it because we got a lot more individualized attention. And the girls did great! I think 16 (out of 21) of them were nominated for All American and 6 actually made the All American team (I think there were only 12 total for the entire camp). One of the girls was named Top All American of the camp for the second year in a row (and she’s only going to be a junior this year). One of the seniors was “apped” at the end of the camp. That means that the NCA staff thought she was good enough to try out for their staff next year and she got a special application to do so. The team as a whole won the “Top Performance Team” award and received a Nationals bid. And the other coach and myself won a “Been There, Done That” award acknowledging our commitment, knowledge and dedication to our squad and to cheerleading as a whole. All in all it was a fabulous 4 days. Except for the mattresses we slept on in the dorms – we called them our “cement slabs”. It was seriously an adult version of a crib mattress. And there was a ginormous hill that we had to go down and up 3 times a day. Which was never fun, but at least I felt like my legs and butt were getting a good workout. Makes up for all the cafeteria food we ate there (which was actually pretty tasty). And now I have a break until August!!!
On to other summer plans. I’m leaving for Alaska this Friday. I’m going to be there for about 10 days, but already I’m wondering how I’m going to cram in all my plans. There are a lot of people to see. Last time I was there it was for a short trip around Thanksgiving so I didn’t get to see a whole lot of my friends for very long. I’d like to be able to spend a little more time with everyone. And some of my other out of state friends will be up there because it is our 10 year high school reunion and we’re all heading back for it. (Can I just say that I’m so looking forward to the day after the reunion? Not because I’m nervous about seeing anyone, just because even the idea of planning this event has caused me anxiety for the past year and now I won’t have to think about reunions again for another 10 years.) I also get to help with one of my best friend’s younger brother’s wedding. He is getting married to his high school sweetheart who I actually knew when she was just a wee toddler. And I’ve known the groom since he was in middle school. Whenever I think of him I just think about him doing calf raises on their stairs because he wanted to get stronger so he could make the 8th grade basketball team. And now he’s getting married! And of course I’m excited to see the neice and nephew. I sent a card to my neice to tell her that I’d be coming and that I hoped we could have a sleepover. My mom told me that she was very excited about this prospect and had already decided we’d do it at Granny and Granddaddy’s house rather than her own (I have a feeling that’s because she gets spoiled more there).
Anyway, lots of blah blah blah here in this post. But I’m excited. Excited about what this past month has brought my way and what’s coming around the corner. And thinking a lot about how blessed I am. And that I have a good life. And that I’m a lucky girl.
Yay for June! I can’t believe how fast this year is already going by, but I am excited for this coming month for a bunch of reasons.
1. I’m taking next week off of work. Our PTO runs from July – June and we have to use it all up in the year or else we lose it. For some reason this year I had a quite a bit left over and had to figure out what to do. But I’m already going to Alaska in July so a trip up there seemed silly and I didn’t have anyone to travel with somewhere else. But I do have a bunch of stuff I’ve been either putting off here at home and stuff I’ve just wanted to do but haven’t had time. So I decided to stick around town and take care of it. I’ve got a big list of stuff to do and I’ve got to make a plan so that I have at least half a shot at actually following through. I am really hoping that I get my act together and take advantage of this time rather than just sleeping in and watching tv all week.
2. My roommate and I are planning to go to Friday Harbor for a day next week. Its her finals week and she’ll be done with tests pretty early in the week so our time off timing worked out well. We went last year and it was so beautiful and we had a great relaxing day.
Friday Harbor
3. I get to see my friend Danyeal. But only because I’m mooch and needed a place to stay in the Seattle area and called her out of the blue to see if I could stay at her place. But luckily she is a very gracious person and immediately said yes. It’s only for one night and I have to be somewhere pretty early the next day (thus the need to be down there in the first place). Anyway, I haven’t seen her since November so I’m excited to get to hang out with her even if its just a short time.
4. Cheer camp is at the end of the month. I’m looking forward to this for 2 reasons. First, the girls always learn a ton and even though its tiring and can be overwhelming it is always a good experience on the whole. And second, once we’re done with camp I’ll have a break for about a month and a half! I love coaching, but having time away always makes it better when we get back at it.
5. So You Think You Can Dance is on TV. Okay, so technically this season started in May, but it’s about to get to my favorite part (basically anything past the auditions). I grew up dancing and this show makes me wish I was 17 again and dancing all the time and could go and audition myself. And this time some of my friends are coming over to watch along with me which always makes it more fun.
Finally I got some stuff done. Finally! Yesterday I had a productive day at work and then I went to our first practice with the brand new cheer squad and then home for a short break while eating dinner and watching my dvr’d Greek and then lo and behold, I cleaned my room, my bathroom, did 2 loads of laundry, sorted through and dealt with a big pile of paperwork I have, and paid bills. Finally. It felt really good to just get some stuff out of the way. There is of course much more on the to do list, but that doesn’t matter at this moment. Instead I just need to bask in the glow of feeling accomplished. As I read other blogs (mostly of strangers) I’m always amazed at those people who can just go, go, go every single day. They get up before 5am and hit the floor running until they go to bed after midnight. At least that’s what it seems like. My body and mind just do not function that way. In fact I’ve found more and more that sometimes I just need a whole day to completely veg out. Which is what I did on Sunday. Maybe that’s why it was much easier to get stuff done yesterday? Anyway, whatever the reason it felt nice.
Our first practice was fun. I’m looking forward to getting to know the new girls and it’s always fun to see the girls who will be cheering their third year step up into leadership roles. Every year I have the sense of things going by so fast and I can never believe that my little babies (which is what I lovingly call sophomores) are already going to be seniors. And it’s always funny to watch them when there are no older girls in the room – they definitely realize that they are top dog now and they definitely like that feeling. I also noticed that I felt really comfortable in my role. I think that comes with this being the sixth squad I will have coached but also the relationship I have with this senior class is much different than any other senior class before it. I think I’m finally getting old enough to feel the distance between us and that makes me feel more comfortable because I know they can’t question my authority as much. Not that I’m a crazy domineering coach, but it can be hard to discipline a girl who is only 5 years younger than you (like my first year coaching). Anyway, enough about all that. It was good and I’m looking forward to seeing how this year pans out.
The end is finally in sight. Basketball season is almost over. This year our girls team made it to state (after 2 very nail biting, must win games that were won by 1 point and then 2 points, with me screaming like a maniac in the stands). This is the first time since 2005 that either of our basketball teams have made it and my cheerleaders are sooo excited. Like can’t get them to shut up for a second excited. And the questions! They never stop with the questions. When are we getting out of class? What do we do in our down time? Can we go to the movies? Why does the basketball team get to leave before us? Doesn’t it take 6 hours to get there? (no. only 3 hours and 39 minutes according to mapquest.) What are we driving in? Why doesn’t our hotel have an indoor pool? When are we going to go shopping? As you can see, most of the questions don’t even have anything to do with actual cheering at the tournament.
Anyway, we leave tomorrow and could be home anytime between Thursday afternoon and Sunday morning (depending on how the team does). And honestly at this point, I’m up for anything. I’d actually they rather do pretty well so that making this whole big trip is actually worth it. But since we haven’t made post district play since 2005, my body and mind are really feeling this extra time. Last year I was done with the season 2 weeks ago! It was a surprise, but it was still heavenly. But the one thing I keep reminding myself is that no matter what, come Monday I am officially done with the season. We’ll still have a banquet to honor the girls, but no more practices or games or attendance checks. Of course tryouts for next year are just around the corner, so we’ll start a whole other slew of stuff, but it’s very different from regular season responsiblities and will be a welcome change.
Saying all that, I have REALLY enjoyed this basketball season. I loved my squad (even when they were/are crazy and goofy). They were amazingly talented when they put their mind and effort to it, and that was fun to see. I have 4 seniors and I’m really going miss them all. Back in November on my birthday, I had listed all the things I wanted to do this coming year (I’m too lazy to link it right now). Enjoying coaching during the basketball season was on the list because I was feeling overwhelmed and tired from coaching in general. I worried that this season would be miserably long and boring. I’m so happy to come out on the other side and say that it’s been anything but miserable or boring (long, yes, but I’m okay with that).
So yay for Monday, and in the meantime I’m going to cherish this last (and unexpected) hurrah with my squad.
So a few things of note have happened since my last post. The schools were closed for 2(!) days due to flooding. Annoying. We had a 3 hour cheer practice on Friday afternoon. Not fun – but this may have been mostly due to the fact that I was really nauseous and felt like I was going to throw up for most of it (this was not due to anything the cheerleaders were doing – I think my body was just overtired and worn out). On Saturday we drove 2 hours in a lot of rain down to our competition. It was weird being a coach at a competition. I was so used to either being an actual cheerleader or just a spectator. Being a coach, you are worrying about every girl on your team and about whether you are getting people to the right places at the right time and following all of the “rules”. And you don’t have any control once the team is out there. But all that being said, our warm ups went pretty well – just a couple of bobbles on stunts, some extreme nerves about toe touch back hand springs, and one of our girls deciding to throw her full twisting layout (a VERY advanced tumbling pass) about 10 minutes before we were going to go on. And then we go to wait for our turn. I think we waited in the lobby area for 2 teams to perform and then went into the gym. I sat in the front on the floor right in front of the judges’ table all by myself (the other coach was handling the music on the side). It was really weird to be all alone right there. I wanted so badly to be able to DO something more. Anyway, the team is announced and the girls took the floor, the music started and the routine happens. They were so good! The tumbler who decided to throw the full absolutely nailed it, they did really well on almost all of their stunts, they were the loudest I had ever heard them, and they made facials I had never even seen on their faces. One of my flyers in particular who I always give a hard time about smiling was making these crazy (but cute) faces and after one stunt where she really hammed it up she looked right at me to make eye contact to make sure I’d seen it. At the awards ceremony at the end of the night we found out that we had taken 3rd place in our division. For it being our first time ever to compete (and we’ve been coaching for 5 years now), for not knowing exactly what we were getting ourselves into, and for having to miss a couple of practices due to school closure for the weather, I think we (they) did great! I was very proud.
That night I had to drive a school suburban back in the rain and the dark and with a lot of water on the roads already. Pretty scary. I was so exhausted from all the emotions of the competition and then the driving that I slept in until about noon the next day and actually didn’t even get out of bed until 1:30pm. Sweet goodness.
On Monday I had a really bad headache. The kind that was so bad that when I was falling asleep that night and it was getting perpetually worse by the minute I seriously thought, “Can you go to the ER for a headache?” I guess you probably can and probably should in some cases, but I would have been overreacting if I had gone. Thankfully when I woke up on Tuesday it had diminished quite a bit.
On Tuesday I found out that my Grannie who lives here in town had fallen in the dining room of her nursing home and broken her hip. I saw her at the hospital that evening and she had surgery the next day. I feel so bad for her especially because her short term memory is very poor and she can’t remember what happened, that her hip is even broken, or that she is in the hospital. I’m going there tonight to sit with her for awhile. I think I’m going to bring Gone With the Wind to read aloud to her. I have her old copy of it and I’ve actually never read it.
Obviously this isn’t the most exciting of blog posts. But I have just had a rigamaroll of emotions these past few days and thought writing about them might be a bit cathartic. I’m looking forward to a 3 day weekend coming and a chance to hopefully get some good rest, some time with Grannie, some fun with friends, and some work done in my crazy mess of a room and apartment. I’ll have to report back to tell you what I’ve actually accomplished (somehow it is very easy for me to skip over the cleaning and organizing for just about anything else).
