Dear Mom,

This morning at skating today was not my best practice. Of course I started my day out like any other day at 4:45, but it was pouring rain and pitch black outside. I got my skating clothes on and packed all of my bags, and after quickly eating a bowl of cereal, I shot out the door. I had to run through the rain which left me freezing cold once the air conditioning came on in the car, which was not pleasant at all. Dad and I got to the ice rink in about 10 minutes, and then I had to encounter the pouring rain once again to get into the ice rink complex. Once I made it safely inside at 5:40 , my coach immediately made me drop my bags and run laps around near the shops in the building. This was definitely my least favorite way to start a morning. Once I was all warmed up, he made me lace up my skates and get on the ice. Within five minutes, I had already fallen face first because of being half asleep and tripping over a giant chunk of ice because the Zamboni hadn’t done a good job. The rest of practice was all basically hearing my coaches yell at me because I was falling on very basic and consistent jumps as small as single jumps. I heard the phrases “jump higher” and “skate faster” what it seemed like a million times. I got off to change into my clothes for school, but as I got into the bathrooms to change the light wasn’t on and I couldn’t turn it on because the room with the light switches was locked. I ended up getting ready in the dark which lead to me falling over a trash can and putting my shoes on backwards. I said my goodbyes to the people at the rink, even though I would see them less than 12 hours later jumping rope, running and slipping all over the ice.

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The arena is dead silent, but then I hear loud cheers call out from everywhere around me as I see a blonde girl gracefully step onto the ice, and then stand in her starting position. The rhinestones on her dress sparkle as all of the lights flash because of people getting every picture they can of her while she is out for as little as four minutes. The loud and beautiful music blares out of the speakers as she begins to glide across the smooth ice. She begins with footwork that fits together like a puzzle piece, and then onto one of her incredible jumps that consists of three rotations in the air. She lands it with so much ease as her back leg extends, and a joyful look is expressed on her face. Her program is put together so carefully with creativity and steps that no one had ever seen before.

She continued on landing double and triples and weaving in perfect movements and steps in between each element that were perfectly in synch with the music. What looks like the smallest push, got her half way across the ice and into a never ending spin with multiple positions that seemed almost impossible to accomplish. Once the music had ended and she had completed a successful clean program, she was awarded not only with a first place medal, but an applause out of every single person in the arena.