We were in Seattle this past weekend for a gymnastics meet. Marissa is a level 9 gymnast now and it has been a year of lots of hard work and learning. She makes us so proud. The skills are much bigger and more difficult. While she knows she could be doing slightly easier skills and getting more medals she is pushing to do harder things that are not quite perfected yet but will pay off later. I love that she knows it’s not always about the medals at this age and has her sights set on great things for the future. She is truly happy and proud of herself after each meet and knows what she did well and what she wants to work on. That takes a lot of maturity. I don’t know that I have ever done black and white versions of her on her events but I was playing around with it and liked the way it really focused on her. There are so many distractions at gymnastics meets…bright colored leos, bright carpet on the floor, mats, banners and decorations, loud music and cheering. I like the way the black and white takes everything away from a photo and freezes a split second in time.