Tumbling.

When Marley asked me if she could be in the Olympics, it happened soon after a discussion I had with another parent about how kids eventually need to know their limits, that not everyone is always a winner, that there's too much telling kids that they're amazing, too much of Katie Holmes calling Suri "magical."  So do you know what I did?  I told Marley that she probably wouldn't be in the Olympics.  I told her that Olympic gymnasts are usually already into some pretty intense training by the time they're seven years old, that they've already moved beyond back handsprings into back handsprings on a beam and, I don't know, flip-tuck-twisty-pike-kips or whatever, too.

I mean, Marley is such a strong, wiry, little athlete, a bundle of energy and power, and I always feel so proud of her when I watch her do pushups.  I also know that she's doing well in her gymnastics classes because sometimes her coaches call me in to watch something new she's mastered, and then they look over at me and nod with wide eyes and raised eyebrows as if to say, "Huh?  Pretty good, right?" But I think 2020 is going to more about Marley turning 15 than it will her medalling on an international stage.  Of course, she was miserable when I told her as much, and frequently reminds me that I told her she'll NEVER be in the OLYMPICS and she'll show ME someday!

Over the past few weeks, though, I think that spunky little Marley has gotten over the Olympics, sort of.  I mean, can't a kid admire Gabby Douglas without having to be just like Gabby Douglas?  This is the sort of lesson I'm working on with my daughter.  (And I'm a woman who named her other daughter Rudy, so I do believe in working hard to make a dream, an athletic dream especially, come true.  It's just that maybe, getting to dress for a game and actually winning an Olympic GOLD MEDAL are two very different things.)  Marley can still work toward the Olympic motto, at least: Citius, Altius, Fortius [faster, higher, stronger].  And let's face it.  Most of us should be working toward some version of that, too.