She got to the house a little early and I was just coming down from the attic with Dad's old black skates. The sad part is my Dad's skates almost fit me. There is room for me to be able to wear two pairs of socks. They had been in the attic for so long the rubber padding on the inside of the tongue had dried up and cracked. I had to use a knife to scrape it off. But, once I made sure there were no spiders inside and the rubber was shaved off the tongue I tried them on and I decided to go back to the future and visit my childhood one last time...because I knew I would probably break something and never skate again. Life is meant to be lived right so go for it!
When we got to the rink it felt exciting because there were a lot of people from all walks of life and age groups. I can do this I told myself. We put our skates on and stood up together...I with wobbly knees she straight and strong. We walked on the carpet to the wood floor and it looked shinny...too shinny and slick to me...not a soft fall at all. I felt a little scared to step onto the floor but it was too late to back out now. We rolled slowly to the middle of the rink where it looked less crowded. I could not believe how wobbly I was. But, I was thrilled to be up and rolling along. After several songs I realized there were muscles I hadn't used in years in my legs...screaming muscles...shaky muscles!! I was raised on skates ...from the time I was about 4 years old I could skate. Wow, it felt really good and as the evening progressed I got my confidence back and was crossing my feet...feeling quite good about my accomplishments. It had only been 20 years since I had skated and I could still do it I told myself at just 4 years away from 60!!! I should have gotten off the floor then!
The next thing I knew I was kicking my feet forward trying to get some kind of traction on the oh so slick floor and feeling myself going down...big splat!!! Oh, that sound...was that just the sound of my ample butt hitting the floor or of broken bones too? My daughter turned around and was heading back to me quickly to help me up. All I could think of was get up before you cause a pile up. I was up and rolling around the floor with a feeling of knowing I was not broken but would definitely reap the pain of the fall for weeks!
That was an understatement, everything from my shoulder to my rear end felt it had shifted to another place it was not supposed to be there. My legs cramped all night long!!
It has been almost a month now and I am back to feeling myself and I think I would like to go skating again! I know I must be crazy and going through a mid-life moment or something. But, inside I still feel so young and alive and there is a part of me that just doesn't want to accept I am getting older. They say age is a mental thing and if it is I may still be skating in my 80's!
