That time I forgot how to ice skate...

Alas,  spring is coming!  It’s not quite “short weather”.  My son has been asking when “short season” comes since before Christmas.  He doesn’t care if it’s spring or summer, he just wants to wear shorts again.

Between having the flu, breaking my foot, having the flu and family vacation, we have not been able to go to our local skating rink.

We are blessed to live in a town that has a skating rink in the winter and then they turn it into a stage, fountain and reading nook in the warmer months.  My husband had the great idea that we try to make it to the rink one last time.  Since Wednesday is not a “school night” for my son and he is totally messed up with the time change (that’s another story...) it worked well for my son and I to go skating and than my husband meet up with us (probably also conveniently planned as my husband isn’t totally into skating- see previous post here

I got my son’s skates on and then rushed to get mine on as he was so excited to get on the ice.  I somehow didn’t notice a minor detail...

We got to the ice and I asked my son to wait for me to go around once because I was rusty and hadn’t skated in a year.  I definitely wanted to get a “feel” for my feet before I was also adding his 30 pounds to the mix.

I stepped on the ice.  I fell.  I tried to get up and I fell again.  I kept falling.  I couldn’t figure it out.  I can only guess the expression on my face.  My son looked worried.  Each time I fell I tried to act like it was fun, trying not to scare my child.  Maybe it’s because the skates were sharpened?  Maybe I’m losing it?  But I was a figure skater, I tell myself.  I try to figure out if I have totally lost my skills how on earth am I going to be able to help my kid skate.  I make it around the rink once and then a kindly man, in broken English motions to my skate.  “Bottom”, “something,” I hear.  I look.  One of my skates has the skate guard on it.  I guess one skate guard was already off (found it back at the house) and I had just assumed they were both off.

If only my husband was here, I laughed to myself.  It gave me a lot more sympathy for him and my son, remembering now clearly, what it feels like to not know how to skate.

Sometimes, I think especially as a parent to a young child, it is good to remember how it feels not to know how to do something.  It’s a reminder that learning is not always easy, not always second nature.