Tuesday, October 24, 2006

The Things I Could Do


The first Valentine's present I ever received was a homemade balance beam. This practice beam sat low to the ground, its padding secured by duct tape, the same kind that the various Miss Texas contestants used to secure their breasts during the evening gown competition, an early form of the miracle bra and cheaper. My boyfriend at the time, another gymnast, gave it to me after Valentine's day weekend as I had to attend an unspeakably awful drill team competition called a dance-off. To add to the misery, I had the flu and my fever spiked into the 100s while I vomited every few hours. My then-boyfriend carried me to the school bus where I would sleep on a seat (vomiting gets you a seat of your own!) and beg God to let me die. Madonna's "Holiday" played over and over on the stereo. My drill team instructor said I had to go even if I was dying because it would ruin the group routine if I wasn't there, and I wanted to because we were going to Ft. Worth where we were going to get to eat at a Bennigan's, which was a huge deal in those days. The irony, of course, is that I was too sick to go out to eat and had to stay in the hotel room with another Michelle who was also vomiting -- she was about two months pregnant at the time, although no one knew it. My friends bought me the poster from Fame, the one with the mangled ballet shoes, leaping into a cityscape.

I practiced a lot on the Valentine's balance beam, as it was my worst event. I'd taken some bad falls already and felt a lot of fear about performing such difficult tricks on such a small space. And the judging was changing -- the things I could do didn't count for as much in the new system, and I had to add more difficulty if I was ever going to win anything. Had tremendous difficulty going forward -- you can't spot the place where you'll end up like you can when you're moving backwards. It requires a lot of faith as well as strength. I ended up quitting both dance team and gymnastics, put my faith in other shakier enterprises. My boyfriend started dating older men and so did I. As for our Fame-like dreams -- I suppose we both realized we weren't going to live forever, but to live at all, well, that's a start.

Michelle's Spell of the Day

"To a surrounded enemy, you must leave a way of escape." Sun Tzu

Cocktail Hour

Drinking music suggestion: This Time Dwight Yoakum

Benedictions and Maledictions

Thanks for all who are concerned about Baby Grouchie's fate. He's alive and well as you can see in the above photo. In the last picture, he suggested we do something edgy and exciting, like a Nan Goldin photograph. He felt he wasn't getting enough artistic say so the gun/Sopranos/Baby Grouchie image was born.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

I've always been interested in the perfect "10."

Anonymous said...

I hate it when they change the rules in the middle of the game.

Anonymous said...

I knew they would change the rules. That's why I practiced my crash landings.

Anonymous said...

Wake me when it's over.

Anonymous said...

Where are the Snowden's of yesteryear?

Anonymous said...

I love it when you mime Royal Crown whisky, Michelle. Got Froggy smashed did you? Good job. No more worries. Cheers.

Anonymous said...

O Mighty Isis Cajun Queen Detroit TigerLady hihgh beam theme whoshotthegrouch? bottlesworthofmysteriousunion steamgrillsshoutout2COLD4theTenthMonth RockOnFoxy R2 C2 Shazammmmmm!

Cheri said...

Is this the same Michelle who was "touched" in the head? Hah we all have our infamous vomiting in public stories. Mine- going to school with a stomach virus and not telling anyone and throwing up every few minutes in the class bathroom. Then having ravioli for lunch and throwing up on three classmates on our way to the afternoon movie in the library. Some of my 1st grade friends still haven't forgotten it. Especially the ones that I threw up on.

ZZZZZZZ said...

they seem to always be changing the rules to make it more and more difficult and the girls keep getting more serious injuries because they have to do all this dangerous stuff. I'm glad I wasn't a gymnist. (not that I didn't want to when I was a kid but looking back I'm glad I wasn't)

Cheri said...

oh yea and I was too fat to be a gymnist. lol yay for band kids!

Laura said...

I used to love the balance beam. Of course, I would never want to be a gymnist. Way too much pressure to be the epitome of perfection. Also way too dangerous for my tastes.

Anonymous said...

Honey, you look so beautiful in the last posts that I've read, to die for. Any tips on eye lashes and eye shadow to pass on?

kiss kiss
Bon Bon