This cheery child was born to cheer!

So this was the day she had been waiting for–I think all her little life!
For those parents who have active kids, you know what I’m talking about. My 6-year-old Mikaela was born to be a cheerleader. She can flip and do cartwheels around the house almost better than she can walk! I understand as a parent that kids will be interested in a million different things and change their mind a million times about what activities they’re interested in. But not Mikaela. She has always wanted to be a cheerleader and today she cheered at her first game for the Mount Carmel Rams.

There is nothing that gives my heart more joy than to see a happy child. And knowing that I am responsible for making her this happy is unexplainable. I enjoyed going to the game. It was a first for me. And I am also the “Team Mom”. What I am experiencing here is different than my life was up north in Philadelphia. Parents come out in droves to support their kids at games. Maybe it does happen in Philly, but growing up I didn’t see it or just wasn’t involved.
Growing up I wanted to be a cheerleader, a Girl Scout and a safety, you know the kids with the orange bands around them holding their arms out so other kids won’t cross the street at the wrong time. I wanted to do a lot of things that I saw other kids do, like play instruments, sing and take piano lessons. But when you grow up poor, you don’t have many of those options available. Your parents pretty much are busy making ends meet. So, I grew up without a lot of privileges and extra-curricular activities afforded me. But I always had in the back of my mind what I was going to do for MY kids when I got grown. I knew I wanted to give them more than I ever had–AND a dad! I knew I wanted them to live a good life without the worries I had as a child. And have experiences I didn’t have. So far, so good. Someone told me the other day that people don’t really want to hear about a person’s good life and good fortune. Well, too bad. Forgive me and my little ones for our happiness. I only worked my whole life to give them a life.