Once upon a time there was a girl that twirled on a sheet of ice, could balance on a quarter-inch blade as if she were born too...and maybe she was. From the age of 4 until 26 skating was the dominating force in her life. She ate, slept, dreamed and day-dreamed about skating. Every song she heard was a skating routine in her head, every available free space an opportunity to practice a jump, a leap, a spin. Even after her competitive years came to a close there was the joy of coaching and passing along the skills and passion that she had for her sport, her craft to others of all ages. Life was a fairy tale really - she seemed like the girl featured in the book -the lucky girl that would get the prince, live happily ever after and have all her dreams come true. Life would be kind, happy and really, bad things don't happen to these girls in fairy tales. Who could have seen what would happen next?
Was it the wicked witch - an evil skating coach that sabotaged her you might ask? No, not that. Was it a horrid little kid that acted out in the most horrid way? Again, no, not that. That girl that skated and twirled with such abandon, such freedom and passion; she was taken hostage. Who you ask? Well, that took some time to uncover... In fact, it took over 11 years to truly figure out what was at the heart of the matter, but the true who has yet to be uncovered and it's now going on 14+ years.
Does this story have a happy ending? Does the prince arrive in time to rescue the hostage? Well, fairy tales are just that - fairy tales. They are fables, stories and while they might be entertaining...they are not real life. This is. But I am hopeful for a happy ending. But the hard truth is bad things happen to good people.
Let's start at the beginning....
