Out of the clouds, and back into the water.

Watching kids leave the gym for the last time in tears breaks my heart.

Tonight was Jessie’s last night, and she took it really hard. The gym is home for these kids.  They come for three hours a night, between 3 and 6 days a week, and they spend more time with their teammates and the other kids than they do with their own families.  It almost feels like they’re getting cut off when it’s their time to leave.  They get kicked out with nothing left, because they’ve invested everything into their gymnastics and the gym itself.  Of course, no one actually gets kicked out, but the teenage years come quickly in the sport of gymnastics.  Once kids get into high school, they generally either grow out of the sport, become more serious, or pursue it with their high school gymnastics team as opposed to staying with their gym.  

So tonight, as she was leaving, of course she cried.  And she cried a lot and she cried hard.  I would, too.  In fact, I’m almost positive that I will sob in ugly hysterics when I decide to leave or get fired in some horribly cruel manner.  That gym is my home, and I feel her pain so much more than I’d care to admit. It’s more like a family there than I’ve ever had before.