Retired, at age 8

It's been almost two weeks since Avery's last day of gymnastics. Her decision to quit was not an easy or lighthearted one, in fact, it was the hardest life decision she's had to make to date. She agonized for weeks, and we're really proud of her for coming to the decision she feels is best.

Since the beginning of the year, gymnastics has seemed to have lost its luster for Avery. Whereas she used to gladly miss other activities to go to practice, in the past several months, she's been feeling like she's missing out on too many other things. She was up to 13.5 hours a week in the gym, and the hours only increase with each level. She really loves the sport, so we looked into other gyms to see if we could find one that offers less hours. Unfortunately, at all the other gyms we looked into, Avery would be a level higher than what she was at her current gym. So the hours would increase to even more than what she was doing. When it became clear that another gym wasn't an option, Avery had to decide whether she'd finish out the year and compete Level 4, or just call it quits now.

Avery worried and talked and thought about her options for weeks, until I finally suggested that she try making a pro and con list. She did, and her list was overwhelmingly in favor of quitting. The only drawbacks were that she would miss her friends and that she would be sorry to not get to compete, which she really loves. But, as she pointed out, "Those five meets really don't seem worth all those months spent at the gym."

I told her that she didn't have to go back for a last day if she thought it would make her too sad, but she really wanted to say goodbye to all of her teammates. She seemed to have a really good practice and really enjoyed herself. She was a bit teary in the car on the way home, but she wasn't regretting her decision. Now that it's been almost two weeks, she can definitely say that she's glad she's not going anymore. She misses the actual gymnastics part though, and really hopes to join a regular class in the fall. She's determined to keep both her skills and her fitness level, and she has been practicing and conditioning daily!

We're all excited to see what the future will bring for Avery. I'm personally relieved that she won't be spending her childhood in the gym. I'm excited for her to try some new things when she's ready. For now, though, she's really enjoying her time off. She hasn't had this much free time in years!