Skating By

One weekend in mid-January, Alyssa said, “Did you know there’s a roller skating rink in West Unity?”

I did NOT know that, thank you very much.

That is definitely information I would like to have.

That same weekend, Lyss and her friends made their way to West Unity to check out the new skating rink.

She came home several hours later with blisters and sore legs.

She also declared that they’d skated for two hours and then went for food.

Hello? How could they have left after only two hours when there was still skating time left?

Go ahead, laugh at me now. I get it. I really do.

A week later, the day Nell died, actually, Alyssa texted me before I’d talked to my mom and found out that Nell had died.

Lyss’s text read something along the lines of: My friends and I are going skating again tonight. Olivia thinks she’s going too.

Well.

Guess what? If Olivia was going skating, that meant I was going skating too. I was excited. (Please read NO sarcasm there. I actually WAS excited. I hadn’t been skating in years…#foreshadowing.)

Let me backtrack. This skating ‘rink’ used to be a grocery store. Let that sink in. It. Used. To. Be. A. Grocery store…

So we go there just before 6pm. I’d already cried a few tears for my mom and her sisters and our beloved Auntie Nell.

We went in, paid our $5 each, $7 for Alyssa who wanted to try rollerblades. Yikes.

The place is still a work in progress. The ‘room’ where the skates are handed out is still just framed out. They haven’t put up drywall yet.

The skates were ancient. I had to try on four pair before finding a halfway decent pair that didn’t pull to one side or the other.

The floor of the actual skating floor is…cement. It’s the left over cement after the linoleum was ripped up. There were a few pockmarks but it was actually almost smooth.

There were two posts on either side of the skating floor. (These come in handy later.)

There’s a janky concession stand set up at the back of the business, probably where the meat department used to be in the grocery store.

Anyway, we got some skates, I put a pair on O’s feet. She declared that they were REALLY heavy.

Duh.

I put my skates on. Tried them. Took them off. Put another pair on, tried them, they were…okay.

We headed out to the floor.

Is it okay if I tell the world that Olivia is incredibly uncoordinated? I mean, isn’t this kind of obvious to anyone who knows anything about her? The child didn’t walk until she was 29 months old. Anything that takes gross motor skills does not come naturally to her.

She was AWKWARD on those skates. I tried to stand behind her and help her. I tried holding her hand. I tried skating in front of her.

She leaned on the rail and pulled herself along. Then…the rail kind of stopped and she grabbed at me.

She started to fall and held on to me for dear life.

She went down, pulling me down with her. We were at least six feet from the wall and about four feet from one of the poles.

I was not going to be able to help her up.

Guys, I can barely get off the floor without pulling myself up using some sort of support when I’m NOT wearing wheels on my feet. With wheels on my feet? I wasn’t going to be able to get up on my own, let alone help my 115 pound toddler up too.

Alyssa ‘raced’ to the rescue (I put raced like that because she was on rollerblades and wasn’t used to them. I should really just say she rolled slowly and gingerly to the rescue.)

She was able to get Olivia back on her feet/wheels.

I walked on my knees on that filthy cement floor to the post and pulled myself up.

I realized then and there that I am WAY too old and fat for this shit. Dear Lord, that was embarrassing.

Not that anyone was watching me. I mean, please.

A couple of strangers did come along and ask if we needed help. I just kind of nodded toward Olivia and said, “She has no idea what to do and I’m clueless as to how to help her.”

They were very kind and told her a little about how to skate. She got ‘better.’ Better meaning she was able to slightly pick up her feet and not end up on the floor every three feet. She and I made our way to the center where she tried to learn to just stand on the skates.

But that was boring for her. So she made her way to the wall again (with my tentative help) and tried some more.

Thankfully, the Porch family showed up. Mama Porch and I skated while Olivia and Delaney had snacks. That was probably O’s favorite part of the whole night. Alyssa and Nora Porch helped their friend Sierra skate.

Oh, but wait. When Liv took off her skates, I decided to try them. They were size 8. I’d had on a size 8. The 8s felt so much better that decided to wear them instead. I turned in the crappy 9s and skated in the 8s for a while.

About two hours in, my right knee hurt. My left foot also hurt. My back was killing me. Did I mention that I’m too old and fat to be doing this sort of thing?

Olivia was bored with the snack offerings and Alyssa and her friends wanted to go to Buffalo Wild Wings.

So guess what? We left even though there were HOURS of skating left.

Yes, once again, I was forced to eat my words.

I will probably never learn to keep my mouth shut.

But for the record, I WILL go roller skating again, no matter that I’m too old and fat. It’s still fun, even if it does hurt for days after.