My Little Gymnast

And the finishing continues.  On to gymnastics.

Sicily had her last gymnastics class last week.  My little athlete pushed herself hard this year.  She finally got to put that tough girl spirit to good use.  At one point this year she was running around with a bruised heel from the gym and bloody, peeling toenails from ballet.  And I do mean "running".  Because those kind of injuries don't stop tough girls.  They push through.  Sure they may shed a few tears but they get back up again.  That's Sicily. She can rock athlete in a prom dress pretty well.  Some people say ballet and gymnastics are girly sport.  That is, if they think of them as sports at all.  To those people, the girls of the world say thank you.  Because those "girly" sports require stamina, strength, and perseverance.  And you know a man would have been on the sidelines with an ice pack if he had gotten a bruised heel or ripped a toenail off.  Sisters, can I get an Amen!

If you doubt the power of the tough girl spirit just walk into a gym or a dance studio sometime.  You'll see girls wrapped up in various bandages pushing though routines.  Because that's what tough girls do.  I witnessed one girl work through an entire floor routine with a cast on her broken arm.  That's commitment!

Now, I'm not knocking boys here.  I have a tough boy.  I know boys get hard core too.  But there's just something inspiring about a hard core girl.  Maybe it's the life preparation in it.  Women have to be strong.  We endure.  We carry life and give birth.  We are born to be warriors of a different sort than men.  A sort that carries families and holds crumbling worlds together.

So you see, I'm incredibly proud of my tough girl.  I see in her an endurance that I know will carry her though life.  Her spunk and her spirit make her a force.  My crazy, wild sprite.  She makes me smile.  I just can't help myself.