A Cheerleader and a Waitress

When you were little and asked what you wanted to be when you grew up, what was your answer?  When I was 4 or 5 my answer was, without question, "a cheerleader and a waitress!"  I have no recollection of how those two very prestigious career choices became my go-to response to that timeless childhood question.  All I know is, I was dead serious.

By the age of 14 my first mission in life was accomplished.  A cheerleader at my highschool.  Now, say what you want about cheerleaders.  I know there are many people out there that despise them to the core, feeling they are nothing but ditsy bimbos in short skirts with loud voices and nauseating "cheery" dispositions.  Did I nail it on the head?  Those stereotypes certainly didn't just get made out of thin air and there are certainly some girls out there that make the rest of us look bad.  But I can tell you the group of girls that I had the honor of being on the same team with were all stand-up girls and we even had a team average GPA of 3.5 for four years straight!

Cheerleading is no longer about routing for your school's sports teams, it is a full-on competitive sport! (stop laughing!  I mean it!)  My team won numerous Regional competitions and we even took 1st place at STATE!  That's right, I'm a State Champion!  We went to Nationals four years straight but a 1st place team in good 'ole Colorado doesn't really stack up to a 1st place team in any one of the southern states. 

I later became a coach for a competitive All-Star Cheerleading team.  All-Star Cheerleading is nothing like highschool cheerleading and I promise to not bore you with the details.  I coached a level 2 Senior team with girls ranging in age from 11-16.  We took 1st in state and...  drum roll please... 1st at NATIONALS!!!  One of the proudest moments of my life!

Cheerleading was, and is, a huge part of who I am.  But lets not forget about my second goal in life... being a waitress.  That life goal was attained at the age of 18.  I worked at a pizza place called Beau Jo's which is famous for its Mountain Pies.  That is also where I met and fell in love with my husband.  The waitressing continued throughout college as one of my two jobs.  I worked at the Bennigans in Ft. Collins, Colorado for many years.  Good times were had by all!

Turns out being a cheerleader and a waitress weren't that silly of life goals.  I met some of the most amazing people that became good friends of mine.  I learned how to be a good coach which I am very proud of.  I learned valuable life lessons... some of which were poignant and meaningful like the value of hard work.  Others were a bit more frivolous but still important like making sure you never, ever forget the briefs that are worn over your underwear with your uniform or how to negotiate tying a shoelace in your cheer skirt with pervy highschool boys around.  It's a skill people!

Plus, having achieved my life goals by the age of 18 made my beloved parents super proud! :: dusting off my shoulders ::  They were so proud of their daughter who declared at the young age of 4 or 5 that she was setting off to become a cheerleader and a waitress.  Not only were they proud they were also happy because they could use the college fund they had been saving to buy a boat!  HA!!  Just kidding....

It was an RV.