by Theocratic Sedition 26 Replies latest jw friends
My daughter came to me all excited and wanted to join Brownies, I remember the crushed look on her little face.
It haunts me, to think of the pain I caused her, and single moms, and our kids, were never "in with the in crowd" in the congragation
so we were isolated even in the congregation. Just the tip of the iceberg in what happened to her.
I was asked to be on the track team after running timed sprints in gym class...I didn't even bother to ask my parents, I knew what the answer would be. Being a cheerleader would have seemed like heaven to me, as well as taking the SATs...I knew what the answers to those queries would be too. I was stupidly obedient to my parents.
Yes . I particularly regret not learning team sports
In NYC you can only play in the Central Park leagues if half the team is female. I cried. I could take lessons for tennis or skiing but not a large team
This topic is my biggest bug a boo with the Printing Company. When I was 9 years old an ice arena was built just less than a mile from home and I was in their very first figure skating class. I new better than to discuss my skating at the KH even at that young age. My mom, for all of her craziness, seemed glad that I was out of her hair so she could pioneer longer hours while I skated everyday after school and on most Saturdays. My coach was very supporting, toteing me and her own two daughters back and forth to many competitions. I was totally on my own when it came to my figure skating. My Dad thank god, was supportive with providing the money for this expensive sport. He was never a JW.
I climbed the ranks without a peep from the KH elders, no one associated with me, but hey, I had the ice! Then one Saturday morning my name and picture were in the local paper. I was came in silver at Tri-States and was on my way to Nationals. Winners at Nationals are elgible for the Olymipics. I would have been competiting against Dorthy Hammill. But I will never know how far I could have gone because the next day after the Sunday meeting I was pulled into the libirary along with my mom. They brought up my service record and my poor participation, not being in the ministry school yada yada. And of course they used the proabition about standing for the flag and county; competitive spirit. They could have put a knife in me and hurt me less! I abruptly stopped skating; I just could not skate a little. It was all or nothing to me. I still think I suffer the depression of that time in my life.
I wish I could of played high school football, but I knew my parents wouldn't let me. This is why I think they should make a Jehovah Witness league too give the kids something to do, and maybe it will help keep the kids in.
Roberta-That is so very sad! To have such promise in a sport and have it ripped away! Ice skating was a salvation for me too, I skated every time I had the opportunity, the outside rinks were free where I lived. I wasn't good, but I loved it. My brain made up fantasies that I was good enough for the olympics...To have been of competing calibre and to be denied, how horrible and depressing that must have been and still is. So very, very sorry.
I didn't care about sports, but I wanted to go to the school dances and stuff like that.
I made sure both of my children were in sports during High School. My son was on the baseball team and my daughter in competitive swimming. We took a lot of heat for it from the BOE but it was worth it for all of the good things they learned from being in team sports.
Oh Roberta, your story just killed me! I feel it too, I was a born in who never got to do anything.
Gymnastics was my thing, as a little kid I used to cartwheel, stretch & backflip till I would puke. No training, no opportunities.
I'm really flexible, so I used to dream about being a contortionist or something (like Cirque du Soleil). I had so much potential, cause back then I really was fearless & I loved it.
Anyway, in my 40s, practising yoga everyday for the past few years, and the feeling has come back! I've started training, pushing my body to the limits of what it can do...and it can do a lot, even now at this age.
so I'd say to anyone who resents not doing sport, it's not to late!
My kids get every chance at sport, my son has played football for years, skis & my daughter does cheerleading! It makes me really happy to watch them, but it is kind of bittersweet, I look at that padded floor my daughter tumbles on, and the fact that she has a tumbling coach & just think wow! What I wouldn't have given for that!
Epilog,
In my late 20s, after I left the Printing Company, I did return to the ice. Much too old to compete. Today, in my 50s I skate 3 times a week with a group called "The Rusty Blades". We are all older skaters, beginners to older pros. I especially enjoy helping out with this arenas testing, competitions and yearly shows for all the younger kids. Sometimes is it healing, sometimes old envious feelings creep in, but I can't just walk away... it means too much to me. Always wondering.... what if, what if. However I am thankful to God for giving me ice skating. It saved me while I was young. Had it not been for ice skating I would not have servived with the JWs alone.
