All-Star Great Stories

[ACEDAD]

We all have them and with Christmas coming up, we need to share! If they involve cheerleading; all the better. I'm going to post one that Kelly (wife of one of the ACE owners) posted.

Kelly:

Hi all, I shared this story on my author page, but typing it reminded me that it is one of my favorite Christmas stories about our boys. Want to share it here too :) I have a major story about the cabbage patch dolls. Rene and Kaleb both wanted the same kind of cabbage patch. It was 1996, year of the Olympics in Atlanta, and we lived in Atlanta. Tons of Olympic cabbage patch dolls there, but both boys wanted a bald black one that was a gymnast. Don't ask; I have no idea why they were SO specific, but they were. I went through four shelves, five dolls deep, through an entire aisle at Toys R Us to find one. Not a single one. There were 4 doll boxes above the top shelf. No way could I reach them without a ladder. The boys were insistent that one of those boxes might have the coveted doll. So I went to the next aisle and found a Toys R Us employee. Just so happened he was African-American...and bald. I asked if he could show us the last 4 Cabbage patch kids on the top of the shelves. I did NOT tell him we wanted a gymnast one that looked like him. He looked at me as though I was one of "those" kind of moms, but I just smiled while the boys gave him their best pleading looks. He found a ladder, climbed up and showed us three of the dolls one by one. All were white, and the boys shook their heads each time that they weren't the "right one." He started down the ladder without showing us the last box. I asked, "Can we see that one please?" He said, "I don't think you want that one." I said, "Can we please look?" He looked like he really didn't want to, but he climbed back up, grabbed the box and turned it around. A bald, black gymnast. The boys started cheering. The man asked them, "This is what you want?" Then Rene said, "Kaleb, you can have it." And then Kaleb said, "Rene you can have it." And then I suggested they share it, which they did. The grin on that salesman's face was priceless. And the grins on the boys' faces were equally priceless. :) I have no doubt God had that all planned out, and I'm pretty sure we made that guy's day. (By the way, I kept that Cabbage Patch kid, just in case one of the grandchildren one day wants a bald, black gymnast - hey, they're hard to find!)

 

[xspiritx]

1. That is a beautiful story i love hearing stories like these! .. and
2. I just decided to name my son Kaleb! I found out i was having a boy and me and my fiance loved the name. I have never heard anyone else spelling it with a K. I know this is not cheer related but he could be a cheerleader like his mama one day :-)

 

[StarshipTrooper]

I was a 3rd year medical student in 1982. We had just started our hospital based rotations, where you start taking care of patients, gathering information, doing physicals. You know, those annoying ones in the short white coats that say "I'm a student doctor". Well, as with all things medicine I was dead serious from the first, and these were the days before HMOs and DRGS so patients would stay in the hospital for months if they were terminal or end stage and could not be cared for at home. Hospice was just reeving up. Anyway, I started on the GI rotation and got my list of patients. Mr. Jones was a orange man with a distended stomach and liver failure. He was getting IVs and meds to keep him alive because that is what we did with endstage liver disease. Transplants were just getting started.

So I dutifully went in and examined him and talked to him three times a day but he never answered. He was in a hepatic coma. But I did it anyway because that is what I was told to do. This went on for about a month. We kept him going, drew his blood, restarted his IVs, protected his skin and took care of him. I never saw any family. In the last week of the month long rotation I went in early one morning with my "hello Mr. Jones" and he opened his deep yellow eyes, smiled and said "hello doctor, how are you"? Well, I just about fell over, he had not talked in over 2 months. So I said "fine, how are you today?" Mr Jones said "well doctor, I'm sitting beside a stream with a cold glass of water, my line is in the river and just on the other side I see the Lord and he gives me great comfort and I think he is waving me to come across."

I ran to the desk to find the chief resident and tell him of the miracle in 305. He said, "okay, let's go see". When we got there Mr. Jones had passed. That morning I began my journey back home. True story. Merry Christmas.

 

[fierceBOWlove]

When I was 8 years old and my brother was 11 we got the best Christmas present ever! I remember the day like it was yesterday and I will never forget how excited we were. Okay so I don't know if all kids do this, but Christmas morning started before 6am. My brother would peek in my room and see if I was awake and of course I was laying there restless wanting to rip into those presents. So we would run and wake our parents and insist we were just too excited to wait! After some convincing they would get up and we would always cook a big breakfast and then start opening our gifts. While going through all of this, my dad pointed to the couch where there was 2 rather large boxes, one for me and one for my brother, and said that we had to open those last. So of course as soon as that was said we couldn't WAIT to open those. After opening all the rest of the gifts, all that was left was the 2 boxes. We were so anxious/excited it seemed like that was all that mattered right then was what was in those boxes! So we open them and it is Snow Gear! Ski Jackets, pants, gloves, THE WORKS. We were so confused, being young I don't think we immediately put it together... My dad says, go to your room and start to pack some stuff because we're going skiing! It was the greatest gift, ever! We left that night for Boone, North Carolina and we got to stay for 5 days :). It was the first time we had even seen snow and I will never forget that Christmas.

 

[kaylaxlaylaa]

When I was 8 years old and my brother was 11 we got the best Christmas present ever! I remember the day like it was yesterday and I will never forget how excited we were. Okay so I don't know if all kids do this, but Christmas morning started before 6am. My brother would peek in my room and see if I was awake and of course I was laying there restless wanting to rip into those presents. So we would run and wake our parents and insist we were just too excited to wait! After some convincing they would get up and we would always cook a big breakfast and then start opening our gifts. While going through all of this, my dad pointed to the couch where there was 2 rather large boxes, one for me and one for my brother, and said that we had to open those last. So of course as soon as that was said we couldn't WAIT to open those. After opening all the rest of the gifts, all that was left was the 2 boxes. We were so anxious/excited it seemed like that was all that mattered right then was what was in those boxes! So we open them and it is Snow Gear! Ski Jackets, pants, gloves, THE WORKS. We were so confused, being young I don't think we immediately put it together... My dad says, go to your room and start to pack some stuff because we're going skiing! It was the greatest gift, ever! We left that night for Boone, North Carolina and we got to stay for 5 days :). It was the first time we had even seen snow and I will never forget that Christmas.

Kinda random but relates to your story! I live in Boone now and would love to go snowboarding soon, but of course theres no snow on this mountain currently! lol

 

[fierceBOWlove]

Kinda random but relates to your story! I live in Boone now and would love to go snowboarding soon, but of course theres no snow on this mountain currently! lol

Lol that's ironic! Ugh well I'm sure it at least feels like December. Today it was about 80 degrees and raining -___- you would never know Christmas was less than 2 weeks away.

 

[Mamarazzi]

I really love these stories! Thank you for making me remember that miracles happen!

Merry Christmas, y'all!

 

[NJ Coach]

I was a 3rd year medical student in 1982. We had just started our hospital based rotations, where you start taking care of patients, gathering information, doing physicals. You know, those annoying ones in the short white coats that say "I'm a student doctor". Well, as with all things medicine I was dead serious from the first, and these were the days before HMOs and DRGS so patients would stay in the hospital for months if they were terminal or end stage and could not be cared for at home. Hospice was just reeving up. Anyway, I started on the GI rotation and got my list of patients. Mr. Jones was a orange man with a distended stomach and liver failure. He was getting IVs and meds to keep him alive because that is what we did with endstage liver disease. Transplants were just getting started.

So I dutifully went in and examined him and talked to him three times a day but he never answered. He was in a hepatic coma. But I did it anyway because that is what I was told to do. This went on for about a month. We kept him going, drew his blood, restarted his IVs, protected his skin and took care of him. I never saw any family. In the last week of the month long rotation I went in early one morning with my "hello Mr. Jones" and he opened his deep yellow eyes, smiled and said "hello doctor, how are you"? Well, I just about fell over, he had not talked in over 2 months. So I said "fine, how are you today?" Mr Jones said "well doctor, I'm sitting beside a stream with a cold glass of water, my line is in the river and just on the other side I see the Lord and he gives me great comfort and I think he is waving me to come across."

I ran to the desk to find the chief resident and tell him of the miracle in 305. He said, "okay, let's go see". When we got there Mr. Jones had passed. That morning I began my journey back home. True story. Merry Christmas.

This brought tears to my eyes

 

[SmileyRyleigh]

The year my parents got divorced Christmas was really hard. My mom was a stay at home mom, was going back to college to get her degree in criminal psychology (she originally had one in nursing), and ran her own "business" out of our house making glass beads and jewelry on the side, but we definitely depended on my dad and his income because he is a lawyer. The divorce was rough on everyone and around the beginning of November my dad tried to commit suicide when me and my brothers were at his house. I don't think a lot of people know that part of my life because I don't tell many people, but the holidays that year were really rough and my dad was in the hospital getting help. He's fine now, by the way. It was just hard being 8 years old and going to sleep every night wondering if your dad is going to wake up in the morning. Anyways, my mom was a mess and since she has custody of us and no steady income besides child support, the gym I was at let me cheer the rest of the season for free. One of the team moms that we were not close to since my mom didn't get to go to practices because of my 2 younger brothers did a "12 days of Christmas" secret elves thing for us that year. Every night they would ring the doorbell and leave something on our porch up until Christmas eve and they finally told us who they were then. They didn't leave expensive things, but they were small things that just made us smile. I know the first night they left egg nog, the 2nd they left 2 candy bars... etc. My mom said this made a huge impact in her life and made her realize that sometimes even strangers care about you more than you know. Every Christmas since then we've picked a family we know that's having a rough time and it's just amazing to see how happy it makes them.

 

[coachbd]

The year my parents got divorced Christmas was really hard. My mom was a stay at home mom, was going back to college to get her degree in criminal psychology (she originally had one in nursing), and ran her own "business" out of our house making glass beads and jewelry on the side, but we definitely depended on my dad and his income because he is a lawyer. The divorce was rough on everyone and around the beginning of November my dad tried to commit suicide when me and my brothers were at his house. I don't think a lot of people know that part of my life because I don't tell many people, but the holidays that year were really rough and my dad was in the hospital getting help. He's fine now, by the way. It was just hard being 8 years old and going to sleep every night wondering if your dad is going to wake up in the morning. Anyways, my mom was a mess and since she has custody of us and no steady income besides child support, the gym I was at let me cheer the rest of the season for free. One of the team moms that we were not close to since my mom didn't get to go to practices because of my 2 younger brothers did a "12 days of Christmas" secret elves thing for us that year. Every night they would ring the doorbell and leave something on our porch up until Christmas eve and they finally told us who they were then. They didn't leave expensive things, but they were small things that just made us smile. I know the first night they left egg nog, the 2nd they left 2 candy bars... etc. My mom said this made a huge impact in her life and made her realize that sometimes even strangers care about you more than you know. Every Christmas since then we've picked a family we know that's having a rough time and it's just amazing to see how happy it makes them.

That really made me smile on Christmas Eve - thank you for sharing :)

 

[cheernerd5678]

I don't have any such "great" stories.... but I love reading stories like this! They're heartwarming...:kiss:

 

[thatgirlisfierce]

The year my parents got divorced Christmas was really hard. My mom was a stay at home mom, was going back to college to get her degree in criminal psychology (she originally had one in nursing), and ran her own "business" out of our house making glass beads and jewelry on the side, but we definitely depended on my dad and his income because he is a lawyer. The divorce was rough on everyone and around the beginning of November my dad tried to commit suicide when me and my brothers were at his house. I don't think a lot of people know that part of my life because I don't tell many people, but the holidays that year were really rough and my dad was in the hospital getting help. He's fine now, by the way. It was just hard being 8 years old and going to sleep every night wondering if your dad is going to wake up in the morning. Anyways, my mom was a mess and since she has custody of us and no steady income besides child support, the gym I was at let me cheer the rest of the season for free. One of the team moms that we were not close to since my mom didn't get to go to practices because of my 2 younger brothers did a "12 days of Christmas" secret elves thing for us that year. Every night they would ring the doorbell and leave something on our porch up until Christmas eve and they finally told us who they were then. They didn't leave expensive things, but they were small things that just made us smile. I know the first night they left egg nog, the 2nd they left 2 candy bars... etc. My mom said this made a huge impact in her life and made her realize that sometimes even strangers care about you more than you know. Every Christmas since then we've picked a family we know that's having a rough time and it's just amazing to see how happy it makes them.

my family does the 12 days of Christmas thing as well (:

 

[alexamarysouza]

Mine's not much of a story, but I'll tell it anyways.
There's a family at my gym who's been in a struggle. The father doesn't have job, and when he does, it's just one of those "I'll call you when I need you" types, and he might get called twice a year. The mother is a school cafeteria worker, and barely makes enough to help put food on the table. Through all these tough times for their family, they make it work, and are able to send one of their daughters to cheer, and the other to private college. Just last week, my mom was texting their mom, and they were talking about christmas. She mentioned how she didn't know how she was going to be able to afford presents for her kids, and said how she hasn't bought anything yet because she didn't have extra cash to do it with. My mom and I took it as initiative, and went to the mall and bought a bunch of clothes for her to give her kids. We got each girl a pair of pjs, a sweater, and a thermal top, and their son two thermals and two tshirts. When my mom gave her the clothes the other day at the gym, my mom said she was in tears because she was so thankful.
It feels so good to help out someone in need!! :)

 

[BuegeSmalls]

All these stories remind me of the Christmas episode of Glee that was just on. When Sue got the tree and all the nice gifts and money for Marley and her mom.