The Straw that Broke..

Whew!  I knew when Caroline told us she wanted to be a competition cheerleader that there would be trying times ahead, lots of travel and lots of practice!  But boy...I had no clue!  Now, don't get me wrong, I wouldn't change it for the world simply because Caroline loves it!  But there are times when I want to say enough already.

Caroline's team is very small, only 8 girls, so they have to have all hands on deck at all times.  Each girl is important.  And more than that, we made a commitment to the team that we would follow the season through till the end.  We had a family decide that they would not be coming back to cheer...3 days before a competition.  Wowzers!  What were the girls going to do?  I can be honest and say that I was a little ticked off, these girls have worked their little hearts out and now, they may not get to compete.  We found out that the little girl leaving was going to go ahead and compete and we were thrilled!  Then on the morning of the meet, she wasn't there.

So again, the moms are really disappointed.  We are trying to not let our girls know what's going on.  The coaches end up deciding to have them not compete and just "show off".  The girls get out there and cheer their little hearts out anyway.  We were sooo proud of them!

We all started getting ready to go home because the weather was getting bad {we were in Denton, TX and it was raining and snowing}when several of the girls started asking why we were leaving.

Caroline asked me why we weren't staying to see how they did.  My heart broke.  She didn't know.  I asked her if the coach told them about competing, and she said no.  So then I had to tell her that they didn't really compete.  As soon as I said it she lost it.  I mean sobbing.  That was the straw the broke this mommies back.  I couldn't help it...I lost it too.  She was crushed.  She was just so upset.  I felt horrible that they went out there trying for 1st place only to come back and find out they didn't get to compete at all.

I was so mad.  I'm not even gonna try to hide it!  I was ticked!  Now I don't want everyone to think that I'm some mean woman who gets mad because someone quit, that's not it at all.  Just have the decency to give some notice.  It was a very hard day and I hope that we never get faced with that again.  The only thing that saved the day was the snow!  And let me tell you it was coming down!  Everyone made it home safely and the girls learned a valuable lesson:  when you make a commitment, you follow through till the end of that commitment.