This week is the one year anniversary of a lot of things. My debut (and final) performance in the senior division at the synchronized skating national championships, the decision to stop skating, my whirlwind trip to belgium to visit my fabulous best friend, the purchase of my trusty olive green longchamp (still in my possession today), and the beginning of a relationship with a wonderful guy.
I've had scads of time to think and reminisce as I round the corner on my third hour in the Dayton airport waiting for my connecting flight to Atlanta.
A year ago I was a world-class athlete, and was seriously unhappy because I didn't love my sport anymore. I hadn't loved it for a while - after my study abroad experience, I began to fill my heart with love for other things. I was growing out of my childish belief that skating was who I was, that it defined me. I spent two months without my love, and to my surprise, I survived. And upon my arrival back to Oxford, back to the skating world, I was enlightened: "Skating shouldn't define who you are, it should enhance who you are." A slightly more specific version of the "who you are defines what you do" saying. After that summer, I was no longer the impassioned ice skater hungry for a world championship title. I wanted to be, though - and I think it is this want that kept me going through the numerous asthma attacks, the early morning practices, the weeks I spent more hours on the ice than in class - but at the end of the year I realized it wouldn't be fair to my teammates who still wanted that championship for me to continue skating. Now, I have found passion in many other things - and many other people - that I never would have found if I didn't end my skating career.
A year ago I was unsure of my place in the world, unsure of what the future held. For all I knew I would be spending my fall semester in Buenos Aires. Now, I have more direction, and am spending next year giving back to people in a city much like the one I grew up in. Children who face budget cuts with the beginning of every new school year, who don't get to play football after school because there isn't enough funding for it, who don't get to take swimming as a part of gym (and instead spend gym class sitting on the gym floor while the coaches try to figure out how to deal with 150 kids for 47 minutes). Children who have dreams bigger than their bank accounts. I can't wait to go back to the kind of place I'm familiar with after spending 4 years in privileged microcosm. It will be intense, and it will be hard. and I can't wait.
A year ago, I was without love. Sure, I had familial love and friendly love, but something wasn't there. It's true what they say about things coming along when you least except them. For all I knew, I was going out to celebrate my best friend's 21st birthday with a few friends. Little did I know the stranger who challenged my knowledge about the lyrics of American Pie would be the one to fill the void.
