It was every girls dream - to skate in the Ice Capades. I worked, and I worked and I worked. Private ice at 5am, stretching and jump class at 7am, jogging up and down the stairs in my skates at 8am, then a day filled with practice - always practice.
Having only tried once before to skate I never would have ever dreamed that one day I would be an Ice Skater. How that word just rolls off my tongue and floats across my consciousness.
When I got my drivers license it opened up such a huge world to me. I don’t really remember that first time that I skated (really the second time - but who's counting?). I just know I loved it. I loved the wind created by my strokes. I loved the coolness of the ice. I loved watching others do tricks and spins and jumps. I loved the choreography and the music. It seemed so magical. So I worked. I practiced. I fell a few times. I won competitions. I joined the drill team. I learned Ice Dance and competed in that to. I played broom ball with the real skaters - the Ice Capades skaters. I became a trial judge (or at least started the training). I skated in goofy feet (not easy - I’m telling you). I became an ice skating teacher (yep- one of the few times I fell was as I confidently took the ice to teach my first class without removing my skate guards). I loved the costuming. I loved the smell of the rink. I loved the people i got to know. I loved my skates.
The first audition for the show didn’t go so well. It was held around midnight at the coliseum in Charlotte. I learned a lot. I learned that a skater has about 18” to stop past the back curtain. I learned that show skaters were nice and supportive. I learned that the show ice was very, very, very rough. I learned not to allow my teeth to touch while skating on this ice - they rattled and felt as though they would surely break. I learned that my Mom wanted me to ‘be somebody’ - yes she was there with me. I learned that others in my family would only laugh at me.
I was asked to try again the next year.
Rather than being disappointed, after all most skaters do not make it after their first audition, I applied myself even harder. One of my grandfathers bought new professional skates for me. He believed I would. Mom knew I would.
So 365 days later I again was ready to audition in the Charlotte coliseum, on the lumpy, bumpy show ice, in front of the show skaters and other skaters who were hoping to pass auditions. My Mom was there then too. I had two routines ready. Double Dutch Bus went well - kind of a courageous choice. Fame went well - very well. No don’t ask me to show it to you - my body no longer cooperates. Then it was time for Your Eyes Only - the Sheena Easton masterpiece.
I portrayed the feelings and all of the agony of the past few years of training. I was sure that I was skating flawlessly. The people in attendance was laughing at me the whole time. I kept my composure even though I was near tears. I dutifully finished the program and held my ending as thunderous applause erupted. I went over to sit with my Mom. Literally gritting my teeth to keep from crying I asked her why had everyone laughed at me during the most serious, sincere program that I had ever skated?
Her reply “You didn’t see the cat, did you?”
The cat? Apparently there had been a cat jumping along with me and lurching in the space between jumps and chasing my leg as I did spirals and such.
There was no time to absorb this because the director asked to see me. He complimented me on an amazing performance. (No I din’t tell him that I never saw the cat). He asked what my availability was. Do what? Then he handed me a packet of information and my journey began. Occasionally I run across the official letter inviting me to join the show. I always put it away in a safe place where even I don’t remember.
So I went to work. I spun, I jumped, I glided, I did foot work, I rehearsed emotionality, I learned the music - I mean every single note, and I bought a trunk. The trunk was the thing that would be consistent. It would be where my life was stored as I reveled in my new lot in life. My Mom - oh my Mom was so proud. She would hold impromptu autograph sessions. Her amazing grin with her face radiating light that i had never, ever seen in her.
When you’re about to join a skating road show you have to have all sorts of Medical clearance. It was the OB-GYN that got me. I was given a choice. Either I could have a skating career after a full hysterctomy or I could one day have children. I chose my Daughter that very day. I didn’t really give up a dream - I mean who else can say they shared show ice with a cat? My dreams - they did change. The treatment for the Endometriosis was horrific. I survived those two years. God allowed me to be a Mother of Zion, a Mother in a community defined by Christianity and exemplary service with intelligence and faith so strong that it prepared me for the many mountains in my life. The mountains that I couldn’t climb over, divert around or otherwise escape I plowed through.
All because of a cat, and a Mother who knew I could.
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