(Re)Developing a New Interest

I just rediscovered something that I like to do. When I was growing up, I had several of my birthday parties at a roller rink. In middle school, I started going to a local roller rink on Fridays. In high school (more specifically, freshman and sophomore years), I went to the ice rink every Friday. Then I stopped.

It had been 10 years since I last wore ice skates, roller skates or roller blades. I forgot what it was like.

Last weekend, I took my kids to a roller rink. A friend gave me the idea so I took advantage of that and decided that we would have a fun day out. What was supposed to be fun turned into fun and exhausting.

My 2 1/2 year old isn't quite ready to get on skates. I literally had to pick him up and push him around the rink. People probably circled us about 10 times to our one time around the rink. By the time I got to where I started, I was worn out. My daughter is a sissy - to put it nicely. She freaks when she falls down and refuses to challenge herself to go around the rink independently. What's funny is that she's perfectly fine putting on her pink Princess roller skates at home and skate back and forth outside on the 3rd floor - close to the stairs. But she will not go once around the rink without whining that she's scared or getting mad about falling.

When the kids had enough of skating, I gave them a couple of dollars to go play games. While they played skee-ball, I took a couple laps around the rink. It was a pleasant experience. I was a bit wobbly at first - who wouldn't be after 10 years? Once I got the feel of the skates, I started to skate faster and really enjoyed going around the rink.

Although it wasn't as exciting or fast as skydiving or riding on a roller coaster, feeling the wind brush against you as you skate faster and faster is nice. Even though I had my kids with me and I couldn't skate all that much, I still enjoyed it.

Ever since then, I've been thinking about how I want to take up rollerblading and start skating on trails in parks around my area. I have a set of old roller blades sitting in the closet. I'm glad I didn't throw them out a couple years ago when I was spring cleaning. Back then, I never thought I'd start skating again but decided to keep them - "just in case."

This weekend, I'm hoping that I'll be able to get out and try skating on a trail while it's still nice and cool outside. Maybe on Sunday.

And maybe I'll make everyone go ice skating for my birthday. Wouldn't that be fun?!