What a day! No business visits today. Today was all fun. Waking up to go curling for a couple of hours. For those of you who do not know what curling is, it is a sport played on ice. What you have to do is slide with a stone that is around 45 pounds to the other side of the court. Now the thing is that you do have to let go of the stone before the first red line. The hardest part is actually getting your balance while you are sliding that is not on the stone since once you let go of the stone you just fall over. It took a lot of practice, but near the end most of us were able to get down the sliding part.
Once you do let go of the stone there are two sweepers that sweep the ice in front of the stone to create less friction for the stone to glide. There is almost like a bulls-eye on each side of the court. The closer you are to the middle of the bulls-eye the better it is points wise. Now there is only one point per stone in the bulls-eye no matter where the stone is located on it. The more stones for one team on the bulls-eye means they can collect the points from the round. There is only to be one team to get points each round.
As a stone comes up to the bulls-eye it is allowed for the skipper, the captain, to also keep sweeping to allow the stone to glide past the bulls-eye. It was a blast!! I cannot wait to get back in the states and find a place that has curling. I will get everyone I know on the curling court who is able to play without completely getting injured. Our team was an all girls team and we won five to four. It was a close call near the end. If it was not for our skipper that swept the last stone out of the bulls-eye we would have been tied and we did not have time to find an actual winner. For my competitive side this would have sucked!
The girl that coached us is actually on a team that is training to hopefully play at the Olympic level. This would be amazing for her. She has been curling for eleven years and from the little she showed us, she is very good at it. Some of us were trying to get her autograph for when she is famous we can see we know her. We did not get the autograph, but we did all get pictures with her. It is amazing what can happen when you try new things.
I have learned so much on this trip and I can honestly say it has changed me in some ways. I view life differently and am more open to trying new things. Before I thought in such a small box being afraid to branch out. Not anymore. Slowly, but surely, I am opening up and willing to do more and be more adventurous. I want to say that I did something with my life and from what I have been doing I will not be able to say that to my grandchildren.
There is only one real goal in my life that I have accomplished. Ever since I was a child I wanted my name to go down in history as something great. Just like my father. My father has been an amazing racecar driver his entire life and I have always been by his side since I was born. I was only two when my parents first found me in the cockpit of his racecar. I am pretty sure that to this day they do not know how I got in there. I was able to accomplish that goal only a few years ago. I started racing when I was twelve or thirteen and was not all that good I will admit. I did get better and spent a lot of time at the track practicing. Even had a few different coaches to teach me some new tricks.
My goal took place in the World Karting Association (WKA) racing series. My very first year racing this series I won all four championships in the classes that I was entered in for the season. It was an amazing feeling and it definitely felt good to see the giant smile on my dads face after some of the races I won. It was even better if I had a pretty big lead and he would just shake his head at me with a smile on his face. We have a different kind of understanding of each other than, what I would call, a normal father daughter relationship.
Now that I have rambled on. I went down in history with WKA for being the only woman driver to get two Triple Crown awards. This is a very big deal. This award means that the driver won three or more championships in the year. My father and I worked so hard for those awards and it payed off. I know my dad's name will probably never be forgotten in his racing series and now I feel I have accomplished that same thing. My name will not be forgotten in that racing series. I love that. I want to know that I did something with my life. Even if it is a small thing as this. To most this might seem small and seem that I am bragging, but that just means that you do not know me.
This trip has made me realize many things about my life. I know I am heading in a good direction, but I want to head in the best direction possible. I have big dreams and I hope to be able to say that I lived out all my dreams. Maybe one day I will. I need to remember that I cannot be afraid of taking risks. I have plenty of family and friends behind me to support me and love me no matter what.
Daily Reflections:
- I love curling!
- I want to go home and go ice skating.
- I want to take every opportunity given to me.
- Everyone is going to love their presents.
- I am almost ready.
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