A New Cheerleader

Cheerleaders.  This was the crowd I skirted around in high school. I was not that social, that confident, that good-looking and popular. My stepdaughter is now a high school cheerleader - her dream!

This all started several years ago when she and The Mother found a local team to join, with all the fixings: uniforms, practice, 56 foam curlers and hairspray, blue eye shadow and competition schedules. I wondered what school football team they’d be showing up on the sidelines for, and when. Of course, I quickly learned that cheerleading can be completely absent of school affiliation or age requirement. I also learned that as long as The Mother was happy living vicariously through her 12 year old, we had some peace. I also knew that when that got old we’d know it…at some point the young cheerleader was not required to spend the night at her mom’s to do the curler rolling; it was an unspoken assignment transferred to my hands. We’ve sat through the competitions; me with earplugs. We’ve arrived on time, paid the big bucks to get in, to find that either they’d finished their 3 minute routine ½ hour ago, or are running 3 ½ hours late (I didn’t bring a sack lunch, so it looks like $7 nachos again!). I’ve gotten the sideways looks from the cheer moms…she’s not wearing one of our cheer mom shirts, she doesn’t have a big sign, she must not be worthy.

At some point my stepdaughter moved on to another team, and then quit last year; she apparently wanted more "me time", and was sick of seeing her dearest, oldest and bestest friend 2 nights after school. Hmm, I wondered, and wondered again when she sobbed in the car in the driveway because she missed cheerleading and her friends. Do I detectith The Mother meddles again? What child comes up with "me time"?

However, high school tryouts were on the horizon, and they happened last week. I pondered, some, the lack of "practice" my dormant cheerleader was investing in the upcoming try outs. But, alas, she won a spot as an incoming freshman. A teenage girl’s dream!

What is the first thing a teenage girl does when they have the most exciting news on the planet? They want to tell everybody!   Mom, sissy, dad, best friends, any friend, anybody! They want to reach the furthest ends of the world and let everyone know about the dream come true. In this case, call The Mother, first. Then, call Dad. Dad was on his way over to pick her up and suggested they go immediately to her best friend’s house and scream, giggle, hug and all the other things teenage-girl-cheerleaders do when their dreams come true. Off they went, excited in the car. She runs up to the house, where her dearest, oldest and bestest friend meets her at the door, jumps on her, screams, hugs, yanks arms out of sockets, and they celebrate. But wait, this new high school cheerleader hadn’t actually said any words yet. How did her dearest, oldest and bestest friend know already? …. How fast can The Mother pick up a phone and call everybody in the country to tell them her daughter’s news??? How fast can air be let out of the sails of your own sailboat?

We have now entered round three of adolescence…with The Mother.

Comments

[Stephanie]

The Mother is a pain, it's true. But Dad got to take her and witness the celebration with best friend. Good for Dad for suggesting it, and for doing it. Don't let The Mother take the wind out of your sails just because the news arrived before she did. Don't give her the power. She's not that impressive!