Yesterday

Yesterday was a unique day. It made me think of a friend named Scott who told his daughters that no matter what happened they are to finish the routine. About 5 weeks ago that was thrown out of the window when he saw one of his girls laying on the ground in tears. She was landed on by one of our girls after missing a tumbling trick during the routine and was in obvious pain. She stopped and was taken off the mat. That was nothing compared to yesterday.

I thought about this as I saw another of our girls laying on the competition floor yesterday. It was the first time in my cheerleading career that I’ve walked on the floor to tend to an injured athlete during a routine. Thinking about the difficulty I had watching her lay on the mat telling me she couldn’t feel her legs while squeezing my hand and asking what happened makes me feel for her mother. This is a girl that I’ve know for less than a year and it hurt. I can’t imagine what her mom was thinking as she heard her daughter say she couldn’t feel her legs. I think I was okay until I saw the pre-tear look on her mom’s face and knew there was nothing I could say or do to make her feel better. It hurt and it sucked. It’s one of those things you don’t forget, but wish you could.