I was so proud of my 10-year-old daughter as she collected medal after medal at her gymnastics meet.

She stuck her beam landing and placed in four events. Her devotion and perseverance to her sport showed so brightly today.

I tried to snap a picture of her each time she came off of the podium, but she quickly pulled the medal off and stuffed it in her gym bag. When it came time for a team picture for a first place team win, she went up to the podium and posed without her medals.

What could possibly be wrong?

After giving her a big hug and telling her how proud I was, I asked her to pose for a picture with all of her medals. She burst into tears.

“Why are you sad? You should be so proud of yourself.”

She rummaged in her gym bag and took out a medal without even looking at it.

“Can I give this one to Ava?”

I looked over at Ava, a teammate who wasn’t wearing any medals. My heart melted looking over at her and then to my daughter's face, which had illuminated with not pride but compassion and sensitivity for her teammate.

I smiled knowingly. I told her it was her medal and she was free to do anything she wanted with it.

That day I beamed with pride for my sweet daughter. But not for the reason I would have expected. Second place going to her placing in her events, and first place of course going to her caring gesture toward her friend.