A new kind of Saturday

Six years ago, I made a phone call that would change my (and my family's) life.

We had just moved from a small country town to a capital city, and a whole new world of possibilities were opened up to us. My just-turned-eight year old, who had spent his entire life scaring the neighbours with his antics on his swing set, and tumbling and cartwheeling and jumping on his trampoline, dreamed of doing gymnastics. Almost as soon as the plane landed in Perth, I made the call and enrolled him in a boys gymnastics class.

He was a natural. Before long, he was training for several sessions each week, and loving every minute of it. By the end of that first year, he competed at his first Western Australia State Championships...and won the gold medal.

And many more followed. By the time he was ten, he decided to change to trampolining, and again, many more medals followed. State Championships, National Titles...he competed in them all with lots of success, and with the kind of determination and good sportsmanship that would make any parent proud.

Each and every week, in every season, in school holidays, even over Christmas, he trained and trained and trained some more. Sometimes i wondered how he kept motivated. Sometimes I wondered how I kept sane LOL.

This week, he decided not to train any more...to move on from his trampolining and pursue some other interests. I refuse to let him say that he "quit", because after all the years of commitment and hard work, he is anything but a quitter :)

Today...for the first time in as long as I can remember...my entire family slept in on a Saturday morning. We got up late, did some housework, the kids did all their homework for the weekend. And now, at 2pm on a Saturday afternoon, the entire weekend is open before us :) No training. No competitions. No commitments.

I could definitely get used to this :)

TTFN xxx