Allowing Life to Guide You

Noelle Pikus-Pace, the Olympic skeleton racer, reminds me how special life can be when you allow yourself to take a new direction when the life you had envisioned doesn't turn out the way you had assumed it would.  Out of all the sports in the Olympics, the skeleton is a sport I know little about, but I'm a sucker for the human interest stories the newscasters sprinkle in between coverage of the events and Noelle's story (and endearing personality) immediately made her my favorite athlete.

Noelle was never supposed to compete in this Olympics.  She had retired after a freak accident prevented her from competing in the 2006 Olympics in Turin and a fourth place finish in the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver meant she didn't receive a medal.  She became pregnant with her third child and expected she would focus on raising her growing family.  Then she miscarried at 18 weeks. 

Despite her family's loss, she found the strength to go on, and with her husband's encouragement and promise that he and their kids would be literally with her every step of the way, decided to return to training and competition.  The 2014 Olympics made her known for her skill as a skeleton rider, but also for competing on her own terms.  Since I can't even clean the house with my kids underfoot, I have no idea how Noelle managed to train to be an Olympic champion with her children as her companions, but she maintained that she wouldn't return to competing unless her family accompanied her.  She fit in trainings between dropping her oldest off at school and her youngest's nap time.  The little one hung out with mom at the gym and track, unaware of what his mom was working to accomplish.  When Noelle won silver in Sochi, her husband and two young children were there cheering for her, just as they had for every competition since she'd come out of retirement. 

Losing a baby sucks. The euphoria of winning a silver medal doesn't replace the pain of Noelle's past, that I'm sure of.  Life turned out the way it did for her, but amazingly, now her life's story includes silver-place Olympian.  As I watched Noelle's silver-place finish and her post-race interviews, I was happy to see her experience joy and pride in her hard work paying off.  I was left feeling in awe that yes, life can change unexpectedly, and in heart-breaking ways, but the results can still be sweet.