For those who fall...

Drafting my thoughts gets harder and harder it seems.  Obsessed with saying things exactly the right way, writing gets more difficult when there really is no way to say things exactly right.  The fear of sounding superficial and naive often causes me to draft a post and never publish it.  In my mind, my words should never sound like the chorus of a Taylor Swift song.  Actually, that would be one of my worst nightmares.  The typical "what hurts the most", "never never never never (to the 3rd power) getting back together", "somebody I used to know" are fine for certain times, but rarely do they dig deep enough to be anything close to cathartic. 

This post is about falling.  An ice skating outing with my sisters on President's Day proved to be more enlightening then I thought Ice Skating could be, especially in a simple, crowded oval rink.  It was wonderful to spend time with my sisters.  I think back on the days that we used to breathe each others air all the time, and that was just too much for us. 

Anyway, aside from that, I took a moment to observe all the children out on the ice and different reactions they were having to being on a terribly slippery, cold surface, some for the first time, some with a little more experience.  There was the girl who was clinging to the edge that needed endless encouragement and reassurance from a loving grandma.  Then there were those in the middle who were obviously struggling but didn't seem to fear trying to go as fast as they could and fall every 10 seconds or so.  And there was the girl who clearly had dreams of Olympic figure skating dreams in her future.  I have to admit, my childhood dreams of being so graceful came flooding back as I watched her.  But, I have learned in my 25 years that grace just isn't my forte.  I skated on, observing, and wondered how many falls this little girl maybe 10 years old had taken in order to be as graceful and confident as she appeared.  I wondered what the parents had taught the children who didn't seem to be afraid to fall. 

Simply put, it became really clear to me how okay it is to fall down, especially if it means taking a risk or two or a hundred, even if it hurts.  Even more so impressed upon my mind was the idea of how much I want my children to know that it is okay to fall down, instead of fearing, clinging desperately to the edge of the rink.  It is okay, even necessary, to fall and to hurt a little.  What's that famous Micheal Jordan quote?  The reason he is as great as he is is that he has missed game winning shots thousands of times.  Something like that.  The only person defeated is the person that stays down, or even has no reason to go down at all. 

It is wonderful to know that getting up is always an option.  I saw many parents, siblings and friends lifting up and comforting and encouraging.  Being lifted or lifting others, both sides is beautiful.  It is important to be happy, yes, but it is important to allow comfort in also.  Sometimes, I just need to be lifted.  And that suddenly seemed quite acceptable.