Missed My Calling

For a very short time period, I was a cheerleader in middle school. I LOVED it! Sometimes cheerleaders get a bad rap (plenty in my family have made fun of me), but I truly loved cheering for my school. I was a cheerleader before I knew being a cheerleader was cool. Once the school posted tryouts, every girl under the sun signed up. If the judges had seen me at a game, I think I would have gotten picked for the squad. Unfortunately, a shy girl cheering in front of 3 strange judges (without a real ballgame going on), did not do so well. I didn't make the squad. After all these years, this is still one of my greatest disappointments.

Fast forward to now, I am still a cheerleader at heart. I'm not embarassed to clap, hoot, jump up and down when I'm excited. Last night, at Abbie's penultimate soccer game, the score was 2-1 (our team had 1 goal). It was 2nd half of the game, maybe 10 minutes left on the clock. The Panthers ran the ball down the field, Damon passed the ball to Matthew. Matthew kicked a goal. I was on my feet yelling, arms raised in the air, hooting, and jumping in a circle. As I was completing the circle I realized I was the only parent on my feet creating this display, but the other parents were clapping and yelling. Since Paul wasn't there and Abbie was on the field at the time, I re-enacted my cheer for them when I got home. I think I need a special uniform :)

Today, Saturday, we went to the office to do a lot of packing, sorting, and garbage disposal. Norma got weepy as she cleaned out her desk. For some reason, packing up her paper clips made her sad. We've become really good friends. She and I plan to do lunch once a week.