Girls and Gold Medals

Magee Jayne went to wrestling practice with her cousins a couple of times just because she was bored. One night she came home and said 'Mom, I want to wrestle.' I wanted to scream 'HELL NO!' but I figured if I did that I would only make her want to do it more (see, she not only looks like me, she acts like me, too). So I told her that we would talk about it and that I would talk to her Uncle Todd (the coach) and see what he had to say, all the while my head was spinning trying to think of things to say to convince her not to do it. I am not a dainty woman but I sure as hell didn't want to see my daughter wrestling boys. It is hard enough watching your boy play football! She dresses nice, she wants to wear makeup, she is all girl in every other way. So she goes in the living room and says 'Daddy, I want to wrestle.' To which Daddy replies 'No. You're a girl.' Upon hearing this, I immediately stood up and said 'Oh, yes. She is going to wrestle. And don't you ever tell my daughter she can't do something because she is a girl!!' I didn't go to her first few tournaments because I didn't think I could handle it. I sent scouts and even video cameras. The first recorded match I watched, I cried my eyes out. As it turns out, my daughter is quite the wrestler. She has only lost 3 matches and has a whole slew of medals, only the Gold has been eluding her. I broke down and went to her tournament today because it was the last one of the season. It was very difficult for me to watch and I managed to hide my tears while I busied myself with taking pictures to distract myself. She walked with a gold medal today and is very proud. I have no idea how this happened. I never in a million years would have thought that I would have a daughter wrestling but I was very proud of her today. She has worked very hard to achieve her goal of winning a gold medal and she did it. Here are some pictures. Do you think you could watch your daughter do this? It isn't easy. She made the second boy in the pictures cry, I felt sorry for him.