Ok, I combined three bucket list items, because the three above items she learned to do when she became a cheerleader. It might have take her a couple of years to get them all down but I know she worked endlessly on them. They are listed exactly on the bucket list as follows: Land back flip.......Land twist-in-air jump and Learn to do a Cartwheel.
Now no one was more surprised than us when Kendra announced that she wanted to try out for cheerleader. We were like WHAT? she was a bookworm and serious, studious student who had never once expressed any interest in cheerleading. She played all kinds of sports, soccer when she was young, then basketball and softball. The first time she tried out in 7th grade, she did not make it. She came home upset but determined to learn all the moves it took to become a cheerleader. She worked tirelessly on the jumps, tumbles and cheers. Then in 8th grade, she made the team. She was ecstatic!
She loved everything about cheerleading and was one for 3 years. Her favorite movie that summer she made it on the squad was "Bring it On". Oh my gosh, we must have watched or heard that movie at least 100 times. The thing that stopped the fun was Kendra got bit by a brown recluse spider the beginning of her freshman year. It was a nasty bite on her arm that turned into a staph infection and a trip to Mayo Clinic. That consumed her freshman year and she still went to practices and games but could not cheer. That bite took all four years of high school to deal with. She went endlessly for steroid shots finally getting two plastic surgeries on her arm, turning her many large scars into just two, smaller scars.
I think maybe God called Kendra home to be on his cheerleading squad. With her loud, exuberant voice and style, she's probably up there leading the cheers when another dear soul comes home. I can just picture her on the front line of the Welcome Committee doing her jumps, cheers and cartwheels.
Go, Kendra, GO! You made the best squad of all, Jesus's Home Team!
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