the place were the skating parties are held is called Bell's, and this is the same place where the skating parties were held when i was a kid. it's been redone some since then, but the premise is always the same....there is a mob at the front door waiting to get in, there is a huge line to rent skates, and there are the sights and smells of kids and popcorn and hot dogs.
the smell is still the same as when i was last there some fifteen to twenty years ago. it hit me when i walked in the door, and i was immediately transported back to the somewhat-awkward preteen girl with knees and elbows inappropriately large for my scrawny body. the bathroom floors are still way too slick to wear skates and go to the bathroom with any kind of grace, and there is still a speed skater club that meets to practice after the party is over. and there are still the kids that hug the walls trying not to fall, as well as what we call "suicide skaters" that go full speed through crowds with no regard for who or what is in their way. there are the kids that are clearly too uncomfortable in their bodies as of yet, and there are still the pretty girls and handsome boys in cliques that laugh and joke and play.
this brings back so many memories from my childhood...memories i wasn't prepared for but that i'm so thankful i re-experienced. my mom used to go with us to the skating parties, and i remember her skating with us. she had even gotten my sister and i our own skates when we were little, which we used in the garage and driveway. we got pretty good at that time, being able to skate backwards, cross our feet to make turns, and spinning and jumping.
this was the third of the year for the kids, but the first we went to. i originally, actually, wasn't going to go, because there is always work to be done...charts needing finished, laundry needing folded, etc. but yesterday, i thought...forget it! i'm going!
jay likes to skate. well, he likes to blade. it's apparently way different from skating. now, i can skate but i have never been able to blade. so i rented skates and we all together took the kids to their first skating event.
piper did pretty well, actually, and by the end of the night, she was skating either by herself, or with one of us, or with this little boy in her class. and it was awesome. i only fell once, but i will be honest...falling hurts a lot more as an adult than i remember it hurting as a kid!
i hope mom was there with us. i really and truly enjoyed this...to the point that i think we'll be going a lot more often, during family skate times. the best time i've had in a long time. i would love to start skating again. not only is it fun (if you don't fall too much), but it's a good workout, and what a neat thing we could do as a family!
Piper, after she got the hang of things.
Last night was "tee-pee" night...the kids did a game where they had to tee-pee the whole floor, and then see if the boys or girls could clean up more of it. They loved it. And the girls won. Of course!
Piper skating with the little boy in her class. Sorry it's so blurry...they were in motion!
No comments:
Post a Comment