I rather don't understand well enough her retirement in 2006. Looking from the outside, she had her mountain left for her to climb then. Or was she content, at the time, with her Silver in Turin ? Probably not.
No, certainly not. Sasha is a perfectionist. But I've heard she keeps her medals in a shoebox. It's not technically about the medal for her but what the medal represents. She saw Torino as a failure and that was painful for her, she didn't achieve the perfection that she has always strived for but never reached, and basically it was "over" in her mind her after the fall & hand-down. She sees the silver medal as a "gift." But to her it was still a gift that represented her failure.
Personally, her Torino LP is still my favorite skate of hers. In just under 40 seconds her lifelong dream was crushed, but she still stood up and continued the brilliant expression of her music, showing great courage to continue on and present the worldwide audience with exquisite artistry, and the reality of her personal emotion at that time (for those of us who are fans) magnified the emotion of the program itself, making it something very special. I've speculated that the reason the rest of the Torino LP was perfect was precisely because the mistakes were so early and so devastating. After that first 40 seconds she had already given up on winning, which got rid of the nerves and let her off the hook, and the rest of the program demonstrates what Sasha could do if she were unburdened by her psychological issues. I just wish she could somehow reach that state of mind without first having to fall... we'll see if she's figured out anything new in the past few years.
There must have been an inevitable inner reason within her for not staying in the games, not climbing the mountain for that moment. Maybe she instinctly knew she needed some time off to restore her motivation.
From her recent statements, she is solely focused on the Olympics, and said not even the Worlds in her hometown of LA was enough to bring her back. I wish she didn't have that kind of Olympic tunnel vision. She is who she is because of skating. Her true talent is skating, not acting or whatever else. World gold is also a laudible goal and means a lot -- not only the Olympics has meaning. Another thing that means a lot is the beauty that she brings to the ice every single time. It means a lot to the fans everywhere who love her, and I wish it meant more to her without "The Grand Prize" being involved. (Insert cliched quote about journeys and destinations...)
Though the three years' length itself is a mystery to me, she did come back to the right answer, IMO. However late, that the point she didn't miss. And the results may be of less importance to her... just my guess.
Year 1: Licking her wounds, playing around with acting roles and entertaining the idea she'd get picked up for larger Hollywood roles (which was plausible)
Years 2&3: Stars on Ice and some of the above.
I don't know if the contract she signed with SoI was originally multiple-year, or if she later decided to sign for a 2nd year independently. Most people agree that it seemed that 2 years off would have been the realistic maximum, not 3, including her long-time coach John Nicks. Returning in 08/09 made a lot of sense since it would have given her a full season to get back into gear for the subsequent Olympic season, and would have also culminated in her skating at Worlds in her hometown (which she listed as a major "life goal.") As much as I do understand about Sasha, her ditching 08/09 is still mostly a mystery to me, and in the absence of evidence I can only guess. I've speculated that one possible influence could have been Scott Hamilton, that given his longtime history of plugging his SoI skaters during commentary (ostensibly for his own monetary benefit) he deliberately fed Sasha bad advice, telling her to wait (even though as a champion skater he would very well know it was a bad idea) so he could cash in with another year of her headlining SoI. People REALLY don't like when I speculate that. That's too bad.
