the fighter ...

my little ladybug is a fighter by nature ...
strong-willed and highly motivated,

she often finds herself caught in a battle between frustration vs. determination

in the womb, she punched and kicked with such tenacity -

fighting as if she were frustrated by the confining space ...

as a baby, she screamed incessantly -

fighting the frustration that she could not talk ...

as a toddler, she was always attempting the next developmental milestone too soon -

more fights with frustration ... also known as tantrums ...

her drive to succeed was constantly betrayed by fingers that were too fat

or legs that could not run fast enough ...

and now at age ten, we are still witness to the frustration/determination battle 

each and every day ...

if the book report project is a shoebox diorama,
she wants hers to have moving parts.
and if it doesn't work the first time (or second or third),
she may scream and cry and throw herself on the floor ...
but in the next breath, without explanation, she'll pick herself up,
wipe the tears,
and make it happen.

it's just how she rolls ...

she fights every obstacle
and every challenge.
a.l.w.a.y.s.

needless to say,
the skate competition the weekend before last was important to her.
very important.

two months worth of saturdays practicing her solo.
endless weekends rehearsing the choreography
and creating the costume and props ...

only to wake up sick on the big day.

and as her 11:00 call time drew closer ...
 despite being flat out on the cool tiles of our bathroom floor,
green from nausea,
the fighter in her came out swinging.

she jumped up, got dressed, and asked to go to the rink to compete in her first category.

the category was interpretive.
the skaters don't get to hear the song they'll skate to
until 5 minutes prior to ice time.

for those 5 minutes, while still off the ice,
the skaters need to imagine the choreography that will best fit the song.
they are isolated during this process ...
no coaches, no parents, no fellow skaters.
and then they skate out and do it.
one at a time
all alone.
one chance.

scary, right?

and she did this under complete duress ...
so sick to her stomach she could hardly concentrate
and with several breaks to splash with cold water onto her face as she waited.

yet when they called her name and the music came on
she skated out to center ice all by herself
with a bright smile on her face.

a fighter indeed.

and she knocked it out of the park.
first place.

her only medal of the day.

she went home immediately after her interpretive ...
too drained to continue,
she had hit her limit.

and the solo she had worked so hard on had to be scratched.

but what a day ...
what a story behind that one medal ...
what a fighter ...