This is my mother:

Her favorite summer show is American Ninja Warrior. And let me tell you–she gets into it. Real into it. To the point that she can tell you which obstacle each contestant will inevitably fall from. Holy crap! She’s got like a sixth-sense or something!

This is me:

My favorite summer show is World of Dance. And I get into it too. I’m so into it, that after working a full eight-hour shift, I came home and took a nap so that I could stay awake to watch World of Dance at 9:00. Don’t laugh at me! I’m not a night person!

Together, we make up the Frizzy Sisters, as you know. And as you now know, we are obsessed this summer with things we cannot have. For my mom, super human strength. For me, just an ounce of grace.

If you were following along for our Tumblr days, you know that miss Katie over here dances like a chicken with her too-long legs, too-long arms, and a stupid grin on her face to cover the fact that she’s got no idea what the hell she’s doing. Yeah, it ain’t pretty. But have you watched World of Dance?! They make it look so easy! So effortless! So completely beautiful! And it reminds me every time of how inadequate my Cupid Shuffle must be compared to theirs. Oh gosh…

If you were following along with our life stories, you also know that miss Annie’s got a messed-up wrist after breaking it because of an encounter from THE MONSTER-MUTANT CENTIPEDE FROM HELL. Oh yeah, it’s a thing. Anyway, Mom’s messed-up wrist and hand has since been named Alice, and because of Alice, my dear mama will not be performing any of those badass tricks those Ninjas do every week. I mean, have you seen it!? They’re amazing crime fighting super heroes with jogging shorts and crappy haircuts. And just like with World of Dance, every week these Ninjas remind my mom of the fact that she could never do that. Nor would she want to…

Why do we watch these shows just to remind ourselves of our faults? Gee… I don’t really know… But here’s one answer: Because it’s fun!

Sometimes the world throws you a bad hand and all you need to do is laugh. So I’ll never be a dancer, so Mom will never be a ninja. But what’s stopping us? I could still be a dancer, just not a very good one. So… I’ll stick to watching it on TV before I break a hip one of these days… And Mom, well, she’s already a ninja–she’s a mom! That’s one of the hardest jobs there is! And she’s great at it!

So here’s to the ninjas all over the world, playing on your kid’s jungle gyms like my Dad would’ve done if we had one. Here’s to you dancers who only perform when you think no one’s watching. So what if you’re not a national hero? You’re a hero to someone all the same.

Here’s my final word of advice:

When life throws you a bad hand, don’t fold. Make something out of it. Maybe even a card house! At the end of the day, we’re all just one laugh away from falling over. But guess what? If you fall, you can always rebuild!