Good Cheer

For those who have met me, this might be a surprising confession, but here goes.

I was a high-school cheerleader.

No, not a recreational-type pom-pom waver. I was entrenched in the highly athletic world of competitive cheerleading, death-defying stunts and all. In fact, my sister is now varsity coach at my old high school—a place where there are more championship trophies for cheerleading in the lobby display cases than there are for any other sport. By far. I know, it sounds weird. But believe me: As members of the only team that consistently won stuff, my teammates and I would become absolutely incensed when people didn’t take us seriously. And there were many who just didn’t get it.