Things Forgotten

I've forgotten the joy of the skating rink. I spent most of my childhood in one. Started skating for fun (as it was very popular then) when I was 6, really started going all the time when I was about 10. Got my first for cash under the table job at a rink at 14 and also started competing about a year before that. Worked and competed until about age 16 when I got a "real" job and pretty much stopped skating when my coach left town. Since then I've skated for fun. Even kept my 4 wheel skates for a long time but bought blades about 5 years ago. I love those things. But I don't use them enough. Thursday night the small one was invited to a skating party. I asked if it would be alright if I came and skated. You know, cause they're 12 and parents are well, embarrassing. She goes "yeah since you can skate it won't be so bad". What an endorsement. What I didn't think about was that we haven't replaced the blades she outgrew because she's been going ice skating instead so she wanted MY skates because the rentals were bad. Yuh. And then she just stood around talking to her friends. So I threatened to knock her down and take them. Yeah I know, my parenting skills need work. She wouldn't even let me have them back while they ate...oh god she'd have to go thru the trouble of taking them off and putting them back on!!!
Okay so I bide my time till the end of the party by putting up with the nasty brown rentals. That's okay. At the end of the party I got my skates back and did a few laps. Joy, rapture, freedom.
Last night I convinced Joe that the small one needs to learn to ride the bike better so we should go back to the river but I want to blade this time instead of ride. I'll keep up because I NEED a workout. I topped out somewhere about 13 mph or so along the River Trail on the NLR side by Cook's landing. We parked there not realizing that the trail had flooded and we had to do a short little loop to avoid it but all was good because lightening started to flash and it was raining by the time we got back to the car. It was pouring by the time we got to 4-30 and there was an accident on the other side with a truck sitting up on the embankment and someone running back to it from another car, it looked like 3 were involved. We tried to call 911 but when they transferred us to the State Police we got no answer. I hope someone else was calling so they got help fast.
Long story about absolutely nothing even longer.... I love skating. I wish it wasn't uncool. I wish the small one had what I did as a kid...a place to go, get exercise, mess around with your friends, hear good music (or bad) and a place I'd feel safe leaving her.