I had an epiphany of sorts this morning: I have only been to one competition this year. That is very odd. I've been to four or five shows, but only one actual competition. What a change.
Years ago, I used to go to lots of competitions. My "normal" could be up to eight or nine within a 12 month period. Most were in our home state, but they still required a weekend stay in a hotel or at an understanding friend's home.
As time passed, competitions went out of state and so did I. There were still the tried-and-true local events, but now we were booking flights, fighting airports, renting cars, trying to negotiate maps (pre-GPS), locating the nearest Starbucks, finding the closest mall, looking for the best hotel rates and still spending most of our time in rinks - though in those days we did more sightseeing. We regularly did a pilgrimage to Texas, California, Pennsylvania and Illinois. Qualifying competitions took us all the way from North Dakota to Georgia, Oregon, Washington and Alabama. The stays went from three nights to seven or more.
When the competitions went international, the trips became virtually non-existent. Denmark was the last one for all of us as a family. My husband went to Japan and to Italy (we all know what happened to him there, but if not read my blog "Strangers in the Night"). Thanks to some wonderful people, our skater included, I was able to visit Seoul two times. But those were for shows; not for competition.
Today, when international competition is on and our skater is involved, I find myself as I am now - sitting in my bathrobe in front of a computer screen, cup of coffee in hand, trying to stay awake. Taipei watch out! I have an alarm clock and I KNOW how to use it!
No matter how much things stay the same, they change..
And if you want some fun take Ob-la-di-bla-da
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