In this blog post, I am writing about Sandy, who was the first Skating School Director to hire me to teach skating. Enjoy the story of our friendship which is below.
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| Ice Capades Chalet Brea Coaching Staff 1983 - (I'm in front and Sandy is the pretty blonde) |
On March 1, 1983, I began my career as an ice skating coach. If I hadn't been hired by Sandy, I may have never taught skating. I am so thankful to Sandy for giving me that chance. If Sandy had not hired me, I may have perhaps done something else. Who knows, I may have never taught skating and who would have known more than 35 years later, that Sandy and I would still be in touch? What is even more special is that our daughters, Annabelle and Kelly, are the same age and are also friends.
When Sandy and I get together, the two of us can talk for hours and hours. We remember the past, but we talk about what's going on in our lives and with our families. Sometimes we don't talk about skating; but, at other times, skating may come up. We've established a life-long connection that we both treasure.
Sandy hired me to teach at the southern California Brea Ice Capades Chalet, but later, she also was the Skating School Director at Ice Capades Chalet in Costa Mesa. I taught under her at both rinks and when I left the Ice Capades Chalet company, Sandy wished me well. I still remember her telling me that I would always be welcomed back and how much she appreciated the hard work I put in during the years I worked under her. I was very grateful then, since, although I was a very accomplished figure skater, I knew nothing about teaching skating when Sandy first hired me. She taught me how to teach classes and how to conduct myself as a private lesson coach. She even gave me the title of ISIA Director and taught me how to run ISI competitions. When I made mistakes, she gently helped me improve at my job.
After leaving the Costa Mesa Ice Capades Chalet, I went on with my life and coaching career, but every year after that it seemed, I received beautiful holiday cards from Sandy. Those cards kept us up to date on one another's lives. I learned about Sandy and her husband Mitch's life through those cards. I rejoiced when I heard about the birth of her first child Jeff and then the birth of the twins Kelly and Tyler. The twins were born just a little before my third child Annabelle was born. Little did I know at the time our babies were born that our girls would become friends as teens. I hope their friendship will continue into adulthood.
As time passed, we continued to exchange holiday cards and then Facebook came along and the world began to shrink it seemed. Sandy and I connected on Facebook, but we also connected because of my job as About.com's Figure Skating Guide-Expert. I went skating on a vacation to California at one of the rinks owned by the MIghty Ducks where Sandy was then the Marketing Director. I wanted to write about The Rinks, so we talked briefly on the phone about The Rinks.
Later, when I began writing my skating autobiography, MY SKATING LIFE, I got in touch with Sandy and together we remembered the two ice skating rinks where I began my coaching career. Sandy was the focus of those two chapters in the book. Just remembering how great a Skating School Director she was became so fun. It was like the two of us went back in time. During the time I wrote the chapters that included Sandy, she began finding photos and memories from those days. We both found that we could talk for hours about how wonderful the Ice Capades Chalets really were and about how hard all that worked for the company worked.
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| Sandy and JO ANN - Book Signing 2015 |
Finally, when my book was published in late 2014, I wanted to give Sandy a signed copy, so when I was in California on vacation in January of 2015, we arranged to meet at a Starbucks with my lifelong friend Marion (who also taught skating at Ice Capades Costa Mesa under Sandy). That book signing/reunion was the beginning of an almost new and very special friendship since Sandy and I just wanted to keep talking about our lives and children and skating!
At that Starbucks reunion, the two of us came up with the idea that our daughters could perhaps be Pen-Pals, but we also thought it might be nice for the girls to meet face to face, so we arranged for the girls to skate together at Lakewood Ice. At that ice rink, our girls did "hit it off" and got together again. Annabelle and Kelly just had so much in common and even liked the same kinds of foods!
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| Sandy's Daughter Kelly and My Daughter Annabelle |
Also, I mentioned to Sandy that my figure skating boots and blades (which I bought way back in 1983 from skating coach Harland Parker who taught at the Brea Ice Capades Chalet) were so broken down that I needed a new pair of skates. Sandy gave me a pair of skates that she no longer could wear and I've been wearing Sandy's skates ever since!
One of the fun things my daughter Annabelle and I have done with Sandy's family was when we got to spend an afternoon on her family's boat. Sandy's son Jeff is really good at wake-boarding and Annabelle got a chance to give it a try that day.
Annabelle and Kelly have gone to Disneyland together and Annabelle got to join Kelly and Sandy's family for a New Year's celebration at their family's mountain cabin. Kelly even flew out to Colorado Springs to join in at Annabelle's 16th sleep-over birthday party at the Broadmoor Hotel! The girls have skated together and Kelly came to watch Annabelle pass her Senior Free Skate test! We rejoiced with Sandy and Kelly when Kelly became a double gold medalist when she passed the Senior Solo Free Dance test.
Yes...it is almost mind-boggling to think that such a special friendship evolved from a job interview in 1983!
To Sandy: Thank you so much for giving me the chance to teach skating. Thank you for believing in me and thank you for teaching me so much during my early coaching days. And...thank you for this wonderful friendship we have!
FURTHER READING:
- Rosie's Life and Past Should Be Made Into a Television Movie
- Maureen Is One of the Most Caring People I Know!
- Susan and JO ANN: "Sisters for Life" Because of Gamma Phi Beta
- Alice - A Former Boss and Friend
- June and JO ANN - Celebrating Forty Years of Friendship 1977 to 2017
- Remembering My Friend Jeff
- Dan and I Treasure Our Friendship With Frank
- Facebook Reunited Me With My Junior High School Friend Bernadette
- Spur of the Moment Dog-Walking-Scootering With My Friend Larisa - 12-1-17
- Dog Scootering-Hiking-Running With My Friend Margar - Cheyenne Mountain State Park 12/1/17
- What This JO ANN's Friends Blog Is About
- I'm Thankful for My Friends
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