“They said she didn’t fit the part… But oh, baby, she rewrote the whole show.”
Let me tell you about my granddaughter, Zariah Lane.
The world knows her now — flipping across TV screens, flying through the air like she’s made of stardust and steel.
But I knew her before all that.
Before the medals. Before the cameras.
Before they called her the future of gymnastics.
She was just my little Zari — wild curls, big cheeks, always tumbling off the couch and calling it “practice.”
She Didn’t Walk — She Twirled.
Even as a toddler, she couldn’t sit still. Always doing cartwheels in the backyard, trying to balance on tree roots like they were balance beams.
She'd stretch every night before bed, whispering,
“I’m gonna be the best gymnast in the world, Grandma.”
And Lord, I believed her. Even when nobody else did.
You see, she didn’t look like the other little girls in the gym.
She had thighs like her mama’s — strong and solid. Hips that shook when she laughed. A belly that she never tried to hide.
Coaches turned her away. Said her body wasn’t “right” for gymnastics.
But what they didn’t know is that my Zari was born with fight in her bones.
✨ The Night the World Stood Still
I remember sitting in my living room when her freestyle floor routine went viral.
She mixed flips with rhythm, power with poetry. One of her moves — a mid-air twist right into a split — made the crowd lose their minds.
And me?
I stood up, crying, clapping with both hands in the air.
“That’s my grandbaby right there,” I said through tears.
“That’s my Zariah.”
They called her “The Beyoncé of Beam.”
But I just call her “blessed.”
🥇 More Than a Champion — She’s a Statement
She’s won her golds, yes. But it’s what she’s building off the mat that makes me proudest.
She started the Big Grace Movement — helping young girls, especially those with curves, believe they deserve a place in sports.
She launched her own leotard line, ZARIAH.FIT, made for real bodies like hers.
She even writes spoken-word poems that she performs between her routines. Imagine that — my baby turning flips and turning hearts.
💬 Her Words Stay With Me:
“I didn’t change to fit gymnastics. I made gymnastics change for me.”
And Lord knows she did.
📣 The Whole World’s Watching Now
4x national gold medalist
6.8 million followers across social media
Cover star of Grace & Grit and Glow Strong
Founder of The Big Grace Movement
TEDx speaker, leotard designer, mentor to hundreds of little girls
But to me, she’s still the same little girl doing splits between church pews.
🌈 From My Heart to Hers:
Zariah Lane didn’t just flip and fly.
She carried generations with her. She reminded us that strength isn’t about shrinking. It’s about standing tall in exactly the body God gave you.
And every time she lands that final pose, fists raised high and smiling proud?
I whisper,
“That’s my baby. And she’s changing the world.”
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