The sun sparkled on the newly fallen snow as Saturday arrived. Christy flew down the stairs waking us, forgetting to help Mark out of his crib. We could hear his cries as she excitedly pulled us out of bed. This was her day. It belonged to no one else, her first solo ice skating competition. Much had gone in preparation for this all important day. Able to walk a balance beam at two, Christy took to ice skating as quickly as she walked across the balance beam. We were soon involved in a world of group lessons, private lessons, ice pros, costumes, and ice shows. Thank goodness for the Zion Park District and how lucky we are to have a regulation size rink in our small town. As she graduated into higher levels of skating, I learned boots and blades were purchased separately with the price going up as well. Who knew! Costumes for the big shows were purchased through the park district and Christy eventually …show more content…
Thank goodness I could sew! With music selected, Annie, it was now my turn. I found a deep red stretchy fabric, the operative word being stretchy. Covered in red stretchy fabric, the dining room table looked like a war zone as I pondered my first cut but first, a pattern had to be improvised from her workout clothing. The cut finally made, I sewed, tried on, ripped seams, sewed again, fitted again and the dress was finally finished. Now for some sparkles. The rink mothers advised the best place for rhinestones: Chicago. So I grabbed my friend Donna and we headed to downtown Chicago. The address was a narrow staircase going up from a door at street level. Upstairs Donna and I found a small room packed from floor to ceiling with little bins holding sparkles of all kinds. We each selected gems and a few for another time. With gems on the costume, music chosen, Christy continued to practice, practice, practice, and we were finally