Grateful 6&7

 I'm Grateful for:

1. Dinner with good friends

2.  A friend who makes lovely soap 

3.  A community of support and accountability

4. Football

5. Bike Rides

6. My dog, The Bumblebee

A little silly dream

 If you know me, you know I love sports.  If you really know me, you know I love rugby.  I played at Utah State for a season back in my glory days and had no clue what I was doing, but man was it a very fun season.  I wish I knew rugby back then like I do now.

In 2024, I discovered this beast:

Photo found in article HERE

Ilona Maher plays on the USA 7s team.  She and her teammates won the bronze medal at the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris.  This is the only time a women's rugby team has medaled in the sport.  Maher became famous not only through her play but through her prescence on social media.  She has been a champion on and off the field as she supports women's sports as well as encouraging women to feel proud of the body they have been given.  

I haven't always been proud of my own body.  I was built bigger.  I often tell people I am from a long line of Wisconsin milk maids. We are sturdy people made to work! But in a society very focused on miniture women being the ideal, I have always feel like an outsider instead of the amazingly strong beast I truly am!

Ilona helped me find the value in a big and strong body.  She also found a fan in my 10 year old daughter who often tells me she is strong, "just like Ilona."  

After her stint in the '24 Olympics, Ilona was chosen to dance on Dancing with the Stars.  She didn't win, but every week we saw a woman who was confident and who also had the strength to keep going even when she failed the week before.  Z and I got tickets to the Dancing with the Stars tour with hopes Ilona may make a surprise appearance, but we missed her by a week.

After dancing, Ilona focused on making the US Womens 15s Rugby team in hopes of playing in the world cup.  To do so she needed to get back into 15s and signed with the Bristol Bears in England and played for three months prior to the 2025 Rugby World Cup.  

Anyway, Ilona is returning to Rugby this season to play 7s again with the Women's USA team.  They will be playing a few matches close enough for us to try and make a few matches.  This is where the silly dreaming comes in.  

I would like to take my kiddos to one of two tournaments.  One is in Vancouver, B.C. Canada and the other is in New Jersey.  I am concentrating on going to the Canada one because airfair is really cheap to Seattle from SLC and driving the 2 hours to Vancouver is doable.  

I am in no shape to do this on my own financially and that is where my crazy idea of having help comes in.  I feel a little silly for doing so but I truly feel my tribe will make it possible.  50 is a big life milestone and I would love any support from my people.  

Ilona continues to bring joy to me and my kiddos.  Read all about it on the GoFundMe!

Your support can be sent in one of two ways:

1.  Venmo: @Alice-Ficklin

2. GoFundMe: LINK

Thanks for reading this all the way through.  Feel free to share that link or my Venmo.  Miracles do happen and this dream will become my reality.  Thank you for being a great friend and if you are stranger, I am really cool and have a had an incredible rough year.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!  Dreams do come true!

Gratitude 5

 Here is a simple list of gratitude:

1. Cooler weather

2. Silly kids at work

3. Watching Z dance again today and seeing her be picked for a solo....so cool!

Looking at the little things and realizing how good they are often overshadows the hard and bad things around us.  Be sure to find time to recognize the good that is around you.

Gratitude 4

 These days seem so much longer with the 5pm sunset.  I am glad it is now quiet and rest is soon here.

Here are today's gratefuls:

1. The continual additions to my memoir: 30 Years in Teaching and I Still Can't Make This Stuff Up!

2. Sushi nights even if I didn't have sushi with the kiddos.

3. Dog walks with Rozz.

How are y'all doing with the time change?  Hopefully, you are not feeling like a mixture of a snail and a zombie like yours truly.

Gratitude 2 and 3

 I missed Monday's gratitude.  I think that it is fitting seeing that I walked around all day today thinking it was Wednesday today...

So, here are six things I am thankful for:

1. Sunsets.  Man the one today was killer!

 2. Funny students...and how they can be a completely different class today, tomorrow and any day!

3. Co-workers who know me and love me.

4. Watching Z dance today during her Dance Company's "Parent Watch Week."

5. Tears.  Always better out than in! Today's were because I had prayed to know I am loved and so many things happened after that prayer that are definitely not coincidences.

6. The 13 of you who are regular Alice Blog Readers.

I am doing something crazy in the next few days.  I am asking for people to donate to my 50th birthday celebration which will include my children, canada and rugby...stay tuned!