When natural disasters strike, many possessions are lost during the onslaught. Fortunately in many cases there is insurance for that.

The worst scenario is when lives are lost. They can never be replaced.

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake occurred on 26 December with the epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake was caused when the Indian Plate was sub ducted by the Burma Plate and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing 230,000 people in 14 countries.

The death toll from the massive earthquake that devastated central Italy rose to over 290.

What also seems to get lost are the memories of those who perished.

Who were they? What did they love?  What were their future goals?

How many people’s names from the Indian Ocean catastrophe do you know?

What are the great things that they accomplished in life?

For most, future generations will never know. It’s as though, except for their loved ones, their memories are lost forever.

“The hurricane flooded me out of a lot of memorabilia, but it can’t flood out the memories.”… Tom Dempsey

In some way that’s the challenge for most of us. We struggle through our lives with our hopes, dreams and accomplishments but when we expire, will the world remember us?

As long as there is civilization, due to her incredible accomplishments in the global gymnastics world, Alexa Moreno will be remembered throughout time.

The talented Mexican Princess has escaped most of our fates.

Alexa Moreno (born August 8 in Mexicali, Baja California) is an elite Mexican gymnast and 2016 Olympian. She has also represented Mexico at the 2011 and 2014 Pan American Games and 2011, 2014, and 2015 World Championships.

She is the first Mexican gymnast to successfully perform a double-twisting double back on floor exercise.

Alexa made her senior international debut at the 2010 Pacific Rim Championships in Melbourne, Australia, where she won bronze on vault. At the Central American & Caribbean Games, she won team gold and vault silver. The following year, she placed fourth on vault and ninth in the all-around at the WOGA Classic in Texas.

After she placed fifth on the vault at the Ghent World Cup, Alexa was selected to represent Mexico at the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan, where she placed seventh in the vault final. Afterwards, she competed at the Pan American Games in Guadalajara, winning team bronze.

What an impressive resume and it gets better.

In 2014 she was named to the Mexican team for the World Championships in Nanning, China, where she again placed seventh on vault. In November of the same year, she competed at the Central American & Caribbean Games in Veracruz, Mexico, winning team gold and placing ninth in the all-around.

Her crowning achievement was qualifying for and competing in the 2016 Olympics in Rio.

In viewing her online videos, before she engages in her floor routine, she is a model in intense concentration.

Ms. Moreno competed in the last subdivision of qualifications, starting on the floor exercise.

She placed twelfth on vault, twenty-eighth on floor exercise, thirty-first in the all-around, fifty-first on balance beam, and fifty-ninth on uneven bars, and qualified as a second reserve for the all-around.

Like most champions Alexa has overcome her hurdles and injuries.

She sustained a broken cheekbone while training which forced her to miss the 2015 Pan American Games in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

The day before beginning competition at the 2011 Pan American Games in Guadalajara, Mexico, she suffered an injury to her knee which sidelined her for months, but when you have been honing your craft since you were 4 years old, very little can permanently discourage you.

Expansion of our appreciation takes us to Alexa’s home town.

Mexicali is the capital city of the Mexican state of Baja California and seat of the Municipality of Mexicali. The City of Mexicali has a population of 814,439, according to the 2013 census, while the population of the entire metropolitan area reaches 1,024,826; making the city and metropolitan area the second most populous in Baja California.

The city maintains a highly educated and skilled population, as it has modernized and become an important population center in the desert region.

Mexicali’s economy has been historically based on agricultural products, and to this day it remains a large sector of the economy.

Economically, a growing middle class disposable income has fueled Mexicali’s transformation into a modern city with a vibrant culture, a characteristic that has attracted many national and international businesses.

They have surged into the modern world now being home to companies such as Honeywell, GKN Aerospace, Kellogg’s, Gulfstream, UTC Aerospace Systems, SunPower, Rockwell Collins, LG Electronics, National Oilwell Varco, Mitsubishi, Autolite, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, Robert Bosch, and Goodrich Corporation have built maquiladora plants in the city.

Alea’s future is very bright and so is that of the community that helped her globally shine.

In terms of her future goals, the star of our story has shared that when she’s not practicing or competing, she studies architecture. One day she wants to build gymnastics work-out facilities.

As we age, one of the most telling insights to our stories is that even our shared memories with friends and family begin to fade and it becomes a very personal experience.

“Everybody needs his memories. They keep the wolf of insignificance from the door.”… Saul Bellow

So much of our life experience is lived alone and those memories fade with us.

Over time, it’s almost like our past doesn’t exist except in our mind. In our memories. That can be a sad realization, especially if you move to a new community.

The new people in your lives only see who you are in the present.

Alexa should be proud that in some ways she has defeated father time.

Many of her personal memories will fade, just like ours, but when you are the first Mexican gymnast to successfully perform a double-twisting double back on floor exercise, the history books, encyclopedia and online community will always remember you.

That is significant.

Alexa Moreno is very significant.

RACING TOWARDS IMMORTALITY

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OPENING PHOTO CREDIT  AFP PHOTO / EMMANUEL DUNANDEMMANUEL DUNAND/AFP/Getty Images

Sources: brainyquote.com, Wikipedia, fciwomenswrestling2.com, FCI Elite Competitor, photos thank you Wikimedia Commons.

http://www.iol.co.za/news/world/death-toll-ffrom-italian-earthquake-rises-2063130

http://www.cnn.com/2013/12/13/world/asia/philippines-typhoon-haiyan/

http://wagymnastics.wikia.com/wiki/Main:Alexa_Moreno

http://results.nbcolympics.com/athletes/athlete=moreno-alexa-1107469/index.html

http://www.cctv-america.com/2016/07/10/a-mexican-olympic-gymnast-rises-to-the-occasion

http://wikitravel.org/en/Mexicali