deb roush

I have a fun activity I share with my children. I enjoy reciting a list of things I love about them – to them. “Do you want to hear 42 things I like about you?” I’ll ask randomly. And then I begin. Sometimes it’s 27 things. Or 99, though that takes some time. I would never list 10 favorite things about them; that would be too ordinary. Earlier this year, however, Rene, our now 15-year-old, did something so outstanding that her list can now be pared to one simple, descriptive adjective. She is tenacious. And by that I mean she is ferocious. Independent. Strong. And here’s the best part – she never gives up when she puts her mind to something, regardless of how long it takes. That Rene is tenacious makes me proud of her beyond any other word that describes her – beautiful, smart or Christian – though she is all of those as well.

What did Rene do that would cause me to condense my list? A back handspring.

Let me rewind a bit because of course, a back handspring, while no easy task, would typically not be enough to top the list. Rene began cheerleading when she was about four. In our small town of Maumelle, Ark., she was on the city’s first competitive cheer squad, the Maumelle Stars Extreme. She learned to tumble, cheer and dance, and even at that young age, she took her sport seriously. We moved gyms when her skill level advanced, and drove her to a neighboring town several times a week where she set personal goals to master jumps and tucks. She was toned and fit while building close friendships at cheer camps, enduring exhausting workouts and traveling long miles for performances.

And then she fell.

She was “going backward” as they call it, and landed oddly on her neck. It wasn’t a major injury, but it scared her, and in the next practice, she couldn’t perform any stunt that required her to go in reverse. She couldn’t do it the next day, the next week or the next year. Yet she kept working hard at practice and in performances. We enrolled her in private practice. She consulted with her old, favorite Maumelle Stars’ coach – Jenn. Nothing helped. Finally, she withdrew from the competitive team, allowing her friends to move on without her.

She tried out for her high school cheer squad as a freshman, and earned a spot on the team, relying on her strength and skills as a backspot. No handsprings were required, but she kept working at it. Soon she was a sophomore, and maintained her mental block. Handsprings were an essential now, but somehow the coaches saw possibilities in her, and she made the team without it.

We were now years past the “accident,” but Rene had never given up working to regain her back handspring. Never. Giving. Up. Then, weeks after she had made the varsity team, I was in the kitchen making dinner and she casually said, “Hey Mom, can you come out in the front yard? I have something to show you.” And she flipped several back handsprings on the grass. She hadn’t told me she had it back, or even that she was close, but that’s Rene’s style – no bragging; no fuss.

Rene will do great things in her life. But none of them will make me feel any more proud of her than I did that evening, standing on the front porch, filming those handsprings on my phone.

Hey Rene, you wanna hear one thing about you I really love? You’re tenacious.