I used to have an actual complex about being 15 years old and not yet having a gold medal. Like the kind of complex that requires you to dismiss yourself awkwardly while watching the semi-finals of figure skating, sob in the bathroom for two minutes, make it look like you weren’t crying, and rejoin your family to watch that tiny Russian girl complete a triple sow-cow. A common complex I’m sure.
I’m fairly certain that this stems simply from my type-A personality (with a dash of B- only truly discernible on weekends). However, I must say that it is truly shocking that by the age of 15, someone could have won a gold medal. It got me thinking about what I had accomplished by the age of 15…
I can say with true pride and certainty that I was potty trained, algebraically able, and hooked on phonics. I was struggling with the beginning of high school, still convinced that the WNBA held a place for my too-short-too-slow-slightly-clumsy-self, and probably figuring out how to get asked to a formal dance. I find it hilarious now that I could have sat in front of my tv screen, as I did this very evening, and watch the Olympics with utter disdain for those youth who had accomplished more than me. They made it look so easy- all those gymnast girls with sparkles like a drag queen who could land a double back flip more reliably than I could actually hit a volleyball over the net. I mean- who doesn’t feel a little bit less than exceptional after watching Olympic performances.
I saw a commercial the other day, however, that made me feel a lot better. A female skier had been filmed going full speed through powdery snow- speaking in the background about the wherewithal required to make it to the Olympics. This line really got me: “I didn’t make it to my high school prom, but I love what I do every day.” I finally felt like I had one up on an Olympic athlete. Take THAT- I DID make it to my high school prom, and I have done a lot of other really normal things too. Things that did not involve me waking up at 5 am everyday from the age of ten to who knows when and having a chance at a piece of gold once every four years. I have never been so proud to be so normal. And if not wearing sparkles all over my body means no medal for me, than I would rather be void of Olympic accolade forever.
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