we cheer and we lead

I think my jealousy over my sister’s gig as a cheerleading coach for a local high school has finally seeped into my subconcious. Backstory: some people do chess club, some people get broody and write bad poetry, some people win scholarships for their amazing athletic prowess. I did none of those things. Rather, I was a cheerleader from 4th through 10th grade. I loved it. I LOVED IT. I had a subscription to American Cheerleader Magazine. I dreamed about being accepted into a midwestern university for their amazing cheerleading squads. When Bring it On came out in 9th or 10th grade, every other word out of my mouth was, “YES!” in total and utter agreement, even though my teams were never rich enough to afford hiring a professional cheerleading choreographer (our coaches and trainers made our routines, y’all), and the only time we ever had our music “done” was when I was in high school and it was Varsity and that’s just what everyone did so that some weird voiceover thing came on in the middle of your Jock Jam and said, “B-R-O-N-C-O-S!” and we thought it was the best thing e.v.e.r.

Anyway! The teams I was on sometimes won but usually lost.  I never learned how to do a backhandspring, so I would not be allowed on any Varsity team anywhere nowadays, not even one in the middle of New Hampshire.

All that leads up to this: last night in my dream I was cheerleading again and it was AMAZING. We were so good, even though during our competition routine girls on the squad just kept dying. Just dropping like flies, literally. But it was fine and we won!

I remembered more this morning. But now it’s late. Sorry.