Gymnastics is Crazy

                                    
My daughter has been doing gymnastics for about nine months. Like I've said before, I'm not really a good gymnastics mom. I don't wait anxiously at the door to watch practice, I don't really know all the moves, I don't hang out with other gymnastics moms. My daughter likes it, so we support her but it's not our lives.

She has done two competitions and a practice meet in her gymnastics career. She got first place in different categories at each of her competitions and was in the top four overall. She's pretty good. She qualified for the regional competitions and so we made the two hour drive yesterday. It was a big competition and there were girls that had traveled from the whole South East. There were 8 states represented. It was in a big arena.

She was totally nervous but we just told her to do her best. She went down and we watched her from above, cheering her on and having a good time. What shocked me was some of the mothers around me. I'm not going to be self righteous and pretend that I'm perfect but holy hell, these people were out of their minds.

These two ladies behind me were pretty much making fun of the little girls competing. We're talking about 8 and 9 year olds, folks. Vile things. "That leotard that little girl has on is ugly." "Wow! She really screwed that routine up." "How did that chubby girl even get here?" For ten minutes I had to hear mean, negative crap like this. It took every ounce of self control that I had inside of me not to turn around and clock these women in their ugly, bird-like noses. I didn't want to make a scene.
              
How in God's name can you, as a grown woman, think it's okay to talk shit on little girls who are out there doing the best that they can? What gives them the right to do that? I swear, the older I get the more and more I begin to lose my faith in humanity.

I couldn't take it anymore so I moved. I sat behind a crazy gymnastics mom that kept calling out. Then she turned to her husband and said, "She's competing like someone paid her to do bad today." She said that about her own daughter. Out loud, in public. What an asshole.

My daughter did well. She had a few mistakes but did her best. Her overall score was a 36.4 out of 40, which is great. However, she didn't make it into the top ten. She cried so hard. She was devastated. Tears and the whole thing.

I was not disappointed. She did great, she tried her best, she had a good time. Her coach is going to move her up. I thought it was a good day. She was not consoled by me. We got into the car and she laid her head on the car window and looked miserable. Finally she spoke. "Mom, do you know what would make me feel better? A lobster tail." Diva status.

We went out to eat and I ordered her a lobster tail. Her anguish melted away. Lobster does that.