There are things I am never going to understand in life.

Why a pair of pants feels super comfortable when trying them on and then way-way-WAY too
big when you discover they are maternity wear in the check-out line.

How the Haitian Relief effort collected over 15 million dollars after the horrific earthquake for a
population of 9.8 million–yet current conditions still show tent cities, destruction, and poverty.

Why Great Danes only live an average of 7 years?

Why imported crystals can rarely be used a second time, nor even be reattached to the skating
costume from whence they fell?

Why my seatbelt keeps getting twisted so that it looks like I am doing a macramé plant holder
above the waist.

(My list does this waxing and waning from the merely important to the essential.)

And so it goes with the “Moving of the World Figure Skating Competition” diatribe.

What is essential is, of course, the devastation and loss of lives and way of life in Japan. But,
for most of the world, we can offer only prayers and contributions to the Red Cross. Is there a
message we should be asking ourselves? Some reflection on our own lives and the fragility of
time with those we love. Surely.

But it is important, on a different scale, on a different spinning wheel, that we recognize that our
skaters have trained for this competition for a year. This is their annual yearly evaluation. This
is their bonus. It is in fact, an understatement, to say that blood, sweat, and tears went into the training.

Moving the event to Moscow is not a betrayal. Nor is it like telling a joke at a funeral. It cannot
be equated to a groom jilting the bride at the altar and running off with her best friend, or the
child of a Pepsi executive admitting that he prefers Coke. Respect is not being evaluated by the
technical caller, it will be offered by all of us with how we fill our days and our actions within all
of the hours we remain on whatever part of this world we occupy.

Although I have many questions about life, I also have a few answers.

Everyone falls in life, on the ice or not, and although it is easier when someone offers a hand
up, eventually you have to find your own balance.

There are few things in life that will not seem better once you have petted the soft head leaning
against your leg and looked into the trusting eyes of a dog.

Mothers should be allowed a vote in picking a future spouse, what city you live in, and what
color nail polish you wear.

No one is ever too old to have a sports car. It is, however, possible to be too young.

“Raspberry Beret” would have been a GREAT program, perhaps only bested by “Burning Down
the House.”

Mombo