Be Strong and Courageous

Chapter 2

MarLie's interpretive music is attached 🙂

"Hannibal."

"Hannibal."

"Hannibal was likely the greatest general of the ancient world, or even the world we live in today." Ew.

"Hannibal developed strategies that are still studied today by oUR-"

"UGH!"

History is an amazing class, don't get me wrong, but I mean, I find writing essays on it dumb and pointless. Think about it. What is the point in rewriting someone else's thoughts on the subject? Reiteration doesn't necessarily build greater understanding, in my opinion, it mainly supplements memorization. Memorization doesn't necessarily produce comprehension. Sigh.

Teachers these days.

I'm taking a cookie break. Even though I'm angry I gently close my macbook's lid so I don't break it. Getting upset with History isn't worth a thousand bucks. I head downstairs for the peanut butter cookies Aunt Linda made, and when I find them I snatch six, whilst pouring myself a glass of milk. This is how we relax, milk and cookies, they help everything.

Daniel is busy today. Aunt Linda is out. I am alone. I have to work on my essay, but I really don't want to work on my essay. I remember seeing an open ice session on the rink's schedule, which I wanted to go to. On an impulse, I decide to head over to the rink, to work on my figure skating. I quickly change out, grab my skates, my phone, and my keys. I leave a note and am out the door.

•• • ••

Our rink is a warm rink; I'm comfortable in just a light sweater. No one else is taking  advantage of the open ice, so it's just me and the echoing sound of my deep, strong edges. I connect my phone to the sound system and play my interpretive dance.

It's a song by superchick, called crawl. It's slow, but meaningful. The first time I ever heard the song, it brought me to the verge of tears. When my coach told me I could choose a song, I knew this was the one I wanted to do.

If I had to crawl, will you crawl too?
I stumble and I fall,
Carry me through,
The wonder of it all is you,
See me through.

I enter into a flying camel and my foot slips, causing my weight to shift onto the side of my toepick. I try to catch myself, but I end up sliding five feet along the ice. I just let my music play. I love this song.

When everything I was is lost,
I have forgot, but you have not,
When I am lost,
You have not lost me.

I smile, and remain lying down on the ice. Which is a strange habit of mine, people gape at my ability to lie on something hard and cold and yet still be comfortable, but I don't know. I've always been weird. When Daniel comes to skate with me, we purposely wipe out and make snow angels on the ice. When I was younger, my Mom and Dad would take Will and I to the outdoor pond. We would play hockey until dark and then sit by the campfire so that the cold that was hiding in our bones deciding it was time to give up. When I skate, I feel closer to them, to those times. The ache that's always there for them becomes distant; it's almost as if they are with me when I skate.

Grinning like a maniac, I get up, dusting off myself. As much as I don't mind the cold, snow melts, and I despise being wet and cold together.

I retry my flying camel and land it perfectly, I hit my sweet spot and just keep spinning. I sigh when I exit the spin. Perfect spins are hard to do, but really rewarding. When I'm done practicing I feel the good kind of tired.

"Hannibal was a battle mastermind; he developed strategies that are still being studied today by our world's greatest leaders and military commanders. He single handedly created a manoeuvre that wiped out 10,000 men in one day even when the odds were not in his favour."

That's better.