Hi, my name is Adrienne.

After that last post I felt like I should reintroduce myself. I achieved the "well-defined" seal of approval from myself (and my therapist!) and I'd like to share who I am and what I am doing:

I am a person who lives by my intuition. If it doesn't feel right, then it's not right for me.

I value compassion, trust, and honesty.

I have deep relationships with just a handful of people. I've never been one for large groups of friends. Give me a bottle of wine and one good friend and that's my best evening.

I have been accepted to nursing school and will be starting this coming spring. I've never been so excited to go back and learn something that I feel I am meant to do.

I am living one of my dreams to be a true city dweller, now living downtown in Philadelphia in a gorgeous neighborhood.

Figure skating will always be my first love, but I am looking forward to a life outside of the sport soon. I know and have accepted that we can have many talents, but they don't have to be our full-time job if we don't want them to be. "Just because we can, doesn't mean we should."

I made the decision to get a divorce after less than 2 years of marriage; it changed my life for the better and helped create the person I am today.

I cry when I listen to Rachmaninov. Shit, I cry for a lot of beautiful things.

I dabble in photography, something I learned back in highschool, and am just getting the confidence to maybe show some of my photos on Instagram. (That’s pretty noncommittal.)

I made the decision to leave coaching earlier than my nursing school start and am completing a doula training program in Irvine, CA. I am so excited to take an opportunity that frankly, is the least planned idea I've ever had.

I have been dating the kindest, most gentle person I have ever known- Tom. He has shown me the power unleashed from a true partnership.

I am far more introverted than I was in the past. I need time to recharge after family functions or even outings with friends, generally recharging by myself yields the best results. If left to my own devices, I probably could go a LONG time without seeing people I know.

I am 30 years old, and not afraid of the unknown anymore. Actually, I welcome it.

It's The End Of An Era

Today is the start of the Junior Short Dance at the 2016 Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships. Today my students should be on the ice, warming up their elements, adjusting their skate tape, and nervously sipping their water bottles. I should be there too- obsessively checking that I have their back up CDs, taking secret release breaths, and trying to find my 6th cup of coffee before noon. But we aren’t there. We are no longer what we used to be. It breaks my heart. But the show must go on.

It’s not about the skating though. To me, these students have been like children to me- I have cried with them, for them, and because of them. We have traveled together, laughed together, and argued together. We have made beautiful moments and triumphed over hardships. We have all learned how to communicate better, respect one another, and work alongside each other towards our common goal. We have become our own little family, and now we have fallen apart. It’s the end of an era.

Change is so difficult to cope with. So. Difficult. We try to manage our own change as we adjust accordingly to the change in others. We can’t predict how or where our changes will take us. We don’t know if others will follow or fall behind. Perhaps we will each take our own course and arrive at the same place. Other times we will find we’ve reached the end of our path alone. Maybe we hit a detour and are forced to move along a new path; maybe we hit a roadblock and must discover our own way out.

Whatever changes come for my students, I hope they greet them with open minds, flexibility and perseverance. I hope they will look back on their skating fondly and leave with wonderful memories, loyal friends, and some damn good twizzles.

WTF happens when it's all over?!