Anna's Skating Competition and Hard (Bad) Decisions

Anna had her second ice-skating competition last weekend. It was in Jacksonville and her practice ice was scheduled for 7:05 Sunday morning, so we decided to go up on Saturday and spend the night. Luke was committed to a baseball tournament (scheduled before Anna signed up for the competition) so he and Thomas couldn't go. Jack didn't like the plans the girls and I made, so he opted to stay home.

We left around 1030 on Saturday morning. We stopped at Buc-ees for lunch. It was insanely crowded, we had to drive around the parking lot a few times before we got a spot, but it was fine inside and we enjoyed looking around. From there, we went straight to the beach in Mayport. We were stationed there  in 2004 and I remembered the beach was nice. It was slightly chilly for this time of year, but we had a great time. We played in the water and the sand. We stayed at the beach for a few hours and then I showed them the ships on base. Anna is in a Naval Science class, so she was interested. 

From there we went to our hotel. When we arrived I discovered that I was missing a sneaker. It must have fallen out when we reloaded the chairs after the beach. I had taken the sneakers off and thrown them in the back of the van while I wore flip flops on the beach. Anyway, that was really annoying. I debated going back to look for it, but it would be over an hour round trip and there was no guarantee it would still be there. So, I mourned the loss of my shoe.

The hotel was just okay. We showered and changed and then went to an outdoor shopping mall. I was super hungry and kind of cranky. We tried to eat at the Cheesecake Factory, but the line was way too long. So, we went to Chicken Salad Chick. The one near our us closed, so it was nice to see one. From there, we browsed a bunch of stores, including a Barnes and Noble. I bought a cheap pair of Skechers at Ross. Then, we went back to the hotel.

Sunday was Anna's big day. I woke up around 5 and couldn't fall back asleep, so I pulled out my phone and put in my earbuds to watch videos. At some point my earbuds disconnected, but I didn't realize it, so my attempts to be quiet failed. Oddly, neither girl told me, so I have no idea how long I was disconnected. Then, when Anna got up her phone was locked for entering an incorrect password and she had to wait 8 hours to unlock it. We can't figure out how that happened. It was a weird morning! We got to the rink right on time for Anna's practice ice. Her first event was at 920 and was compulsory moves. She did well and got 6th place. She was very disappointed with her placement. But once she learned she still got a medal, I think she felt better. Her second and last event was her program, which was at noon. She came in 5th. She made a lot of progress over the past few months and I could see a lot of improvement, especially in her spins. 

After her first event

Keeping warm between events.

After her second event, during which she skated to music from Loki.

When we first started going to Lakeland, we told Anna we would reevaluate after the competition and Thomas and I were ready for her to return to the rink closer to home. However, she really loves Lakeland, the coaches and the other girls there, so we were willing to let her continue skating there once a week. But, we had some conditions. One of the conditions was that she needed to do at least one day of practicing at the Kissimmee rink and another was no more competitions for a while. I had also asked Anna to try doing the Christmas Program at the more local rink and to see how it went, in the hopes that she would meet some new friends and maybe even find another coach she liked as much as the one in Lakeland. Ultimately, Anna decided that she was ready to move on and try something new--lacrosse. She is really excited about learning lacrosse and both she and Kara want to try out for the girl's team at the high school. Last year, they took everyone who tried out, so we are really hoping that will be the case again this year. We have ordered the equipment for them to start practicing. Fingers crossed they enjoy it!

With all that said, I still worry that she is going to feel like we forced her out of skating. I think it was probably obvious that we did not like going to Lakeland. It meant getting up at 415 on Saturday mornings and the drive home was usually miserable (lots of traffic). And, skating is really expensive. We were willing to support once a week in Lakeland, but our preference was to return to the more relaxed pace we had experienced in Kissimmee. But, we also understood it was important to her. It is a REALLY hard line to walk. We want our kids to have everything they want, but sometimes it just isn't feasible. And, sometimes compromise is necessary. To us, we felt like skating locally was a fair compromise (and that one day a week in Lakeland was beyond fair). To be clear, this guilt isn't coming from Anna, she has been very mature about the whole thing, it is more self-inflicted. I want my kids to grow up knowing we did our best and looking back with happy memories of their childhood. I want my kids to think about me the same way I do about my mom (absolutely amazing!). And, sometimes I worry I am failing.

While I am being somewhat morose, I feel like I have made two bad decisions in recent years. I did the best with the information I had at the time, but now I think they were wrong. The first was moving to Florida. The second is I think we should have done the jaw surgery for Anna. With my second-guessing of myself on those decisions, I am now worried about other decisions I am making and what I will think of them in 5 or 10 years. Like, should we try and send Luke to the nearby charter school next year to secure him a spot for middle school, when it will be very hard to get in? But, we like his current school and he doesn't want to leave his 5th grade year. And, was I wrong in dissuading Anna from skating with her coach in Lakeland? Are these decisions going to have long-term ramifications? I wish I knew.