What if I did Cheer, one more (last) year? Again.

He said

This was another one of those weeks that flew by before we even registered that we were already into the weekend. A lot of it was the same usual routines we have, but added is the continual crossing off things on the To-Do List to make sure we are completely prepped for Worlds. This week we had to add in a date to our resort hotel reservation on the front side as we chose to fly down a day earlier, in the evening so we are already arrived and situated the day everyone is supposed to arrive. We also had to confirm that we could have the bike I am renting to do a couple of Florida rides (who doesn’t want to lay claim to having done some pedal strokes in crazy Florida?) could be received at the hotel before we arrive.

Danielle had made one call Monday and we thought we had everything sorted out however two days later the app still showed no update to our reservation and there still wasn’t an email confirmation which we asked to be sent. So, not wanting to leave this up in the air, Friday after Danielle was done work, we made a second call in to get the confirmation. After an hour on the phone, and a couple of calls (and a ton of confusion) we finally got everything confirmed and sorted out, and even double confirmed that they would receive the bike for me. What made matters worse is the resort we are staying at is also a timeshare which I think added to the confusion as some of the staff were unsure even where to route our call. In the end, it is sorted and we have confirmation, but we certainly don’t feel any smarter or like we got any value from the couple of hours wasted on the phone twice this week.

I have also been able to get as many rides outside as I have been getting inside. And the ones inside are not because of snow anymore (knock on wood), but because of either heavy rain, temperatures, or time of day. It has been so good for my soul to be able to get back to outside rides fairly consistently. Today, with the day off work and a reasonable pocket of time between bouts of rain, I was actually able to get a ride out north of the city on a 45 km route that I love as much for the scenery as the exercise and time on the bike. The first 20 km were a bit of a challenge with stiff headwinds as I was northbound on Adelaide St. and then sidewinds as I headed west on Nine Mile Rd. But after that, it was smooth sailing with a beautiful tailwind as I came back into London on Vanneck Rd.

And Emelia this week, we are so very proud of her. She went to the Western Cheer Tryouts for their Co-Ed team. She didn’t know anyone else going and wasn’t sure how she’d fare, but she wanted to try, and kudos to her as she let every reason not to go slip by and went and tried out. She wasn’t sure what the skill would be like and the sort of spots they were looking to fill, but she gave it her best and had a good experience. She was kind of taken aback as they had her doing flyer stunts (she has never been a flyer), and she gave it her all despite never really focusing on those very specific skills. She’s doubtful she will make the team and is also considering going to the All-Girl team tryouts as well. We told her not to make assumptions until she actually hears the verdict but that we are so super proud of her for putting herself out there and doing something that was likely very nerve-wracking.

I know every year for the last few years we have thought this was the last season of Cheer, but with every year that we say or think that, when the end of the season approaches, she starts to talk about maybe doing maybe just one more year. I’ll let you move to the assumption as I share, that yes, she in fact is considering another year maybe at CheerStrike depending on what teams they have and where they may place her. But we’ll wait for the dust on this season to settle and remind her that for now she needs to focus on the Canadian Finals and Worlds that are coming up. And, oh yeah, her exams and final projects for university, too.

She said

This week has been a crazy, busy one for me. I had three events I had to plan in less than a week, and the biggest one was the installation of the newest President of King’s. I was only part of this planning team, but it has been all-consuming planning such a big and traditional event. For the team at King’s, it was very personal; the newest President of King’s is beloved by the staff, faculty, and students. Rob is the son of Italian immigrants who made a life in Canada. He was the first of his family to attend university and chose to come to King’s as a student. He then returned after getting his doctorate in History to become a professor, then chair of his department, then Vice-President and Academic Dean, and now President. Rob is generally an incredible and caring person. So for all of us, we wanted to get this exactly right. After hundreds of hours of planning, the day came, and it was perfect. We had the ceremony in St. Peter’s Seminary in the chapel. It was a stunning place to have this ceremony that was full of ritual and moving speeches. The day was perfect and emotional for all of the staff and family who love Rob, and we could not be prouder of how it all went.

That was not the only thing that kept us busy this week. Although it was March Break for grade school and high school students, Emelia was busy with school, her social life (more St. Pat’s parties), coming into her really busy time at school wrapping up papers and projects before finals. She also got in some extra cheer practices with her stunt group to work on their level-up skills. This has been an interesting year; cheer has brought Emelia so much joy and frustration over the years, but she still lives and breathes this sport. She is really struggling with the idea that she is done with all-star cheer. She doesn’t want to be done, but she isn’t sure where she should go with it.

As John mentioned, the next step for Emelia is that she really wants to be on the Western Cheer team. Ideally, she really wants Co-Ed. She loves that they are at all the football games and events, but that they also go to lots of competitions. The thrill of being on a Co-Ed team to be able to take on bigger and stronger stunts really appeals to her. So our nervous girl went in alone to tryouts on Friday. She wasn’t sure what to expect. I told her no matter how nervous she was to go in, knowing she is a National Champion from last year and that she is on a level 6 World’s team that has a bid to Florida. To go in with that confidence and expertise and give it her best. The problem for her is that this is co-ed, and often the roles that she has had on teams are now held by male athletes, and she has to really fight for her spot. She said it started well. Her tumbling was actually better than she feared having some time off tumbling. Her jumps were strong. And then they moved to stunting. It was then Emelia was stunned. They wanted every female that was trying out to try flying. Emelia has never flown a day in her life. She isn’t scared of the idea of it. She is fearless and strong, but she has never flown. She was frustrated because it’s not that they put her in the air and then had her try things. It was that she had to pop herself from the ground into the air to be in the stunt coming from the ground. She could not get it. She said everyone was amazing and supportive, but she doesn’t know what this means. I told her they gave her a lot of very positive feedback and to remember most of the people she spoke there told her they hadn’t cheered in years, or if they did, it was at a much lower level, and since a lot of these athletes were coming out of high school, most of them do not even know if they will get accepted to Western. So don’t give up hope.

She was proud she went and said, even if she doesn’t make it in this round, she will work and train in the summer as they have a fall secondary tryout as well. As we have said so many times, we are so proud of Emelia that she pushes herself outside her comfort zone all the time. She pushes herself all the time to be better and to never give up. We are so proud of her every day.

The rest of the week for us was a little bit of a surprise. We have mentioned before that Testza and the kids have recently moved to Kitchener. Well, earlier this week, she mentioned she was taking time over March Break to come to London to deal with the packing and purging of her house here in London. The hope is that she could make a lot of headway with the prep to pack everything to move to Kitchener so she can prep her house here for sale. She said the girls were really missing family and would we be able to spend time with the kids while she focused on the house? We, of course, were thrilled. Matthew and Shawn had the girls on Friday and took them to Fleetway, and I was able to take the girls yesterday to the movies to see Hopper and putter around the mall while John and Emelia were both at work. I know Kitchener is only an hour away, but we miss the kids so much that I loved having this time with the girls just me. It was a perfect end of a crazy week.