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Sio had a class roller skating event last night, something she badly wanted to go to. I wasn’t too excited about spending my time with Sio at the rink, expecting her to spend all her time with her pals. However, I’m a good guy, so Beck and I loaded us up in the truck, and headed way south to the rink.

As background, I used to roller skate all the time as a kid, and would go anytime someone would take me. I got to where I could skate pretty well, although I never got the hang of skating backwards. Forwards though, I was a demon on wheels. That was twenty years, a lot of life, and a great many pounds ago, and I haven’t had a pair of any kind of skates on since then.

We got to the rink, and I decided to give it a try, and see if I could even stand up on skates after so long. I was asked if I wanted rollerblades or regular skates. I was surprised that the rink would rent rollerblades. When I was skating twenty years ago, rollerblades were amazingly expensive, and I think I only saw a couple of pair at the rinks in those days. I hear that it’s easier, and it might be fun to learn to skate on those, but tonight, I needed the comfort, support and balance of the classics.

Sio and I laced ’em up, and she started trudging around the rink. She’s not real comfortable with roller skating, but she’s been going frequently, and I expect she’ll get better as she practices more. I think she kept her feet and head in the appropriate locales all night.

It was weird being back on wheels again. My balance is definitely not as attuned as it once was, and my center of gravity has much more center than it used to. Nonethless, I trundled myself across the carpet, barely hanging on to life and limb, and scooted out to the floor. Two minutes later, I had splatted myself on the wooden floor. Nothing hurt, physically or emotionally — I certainly expected to fall during the night. However, that was my only calamity on the night, and I found that it all came back to me much quicker than I would’ve thought. Despite what I believe to be a bad pair of skates, I skated quite a bit during the couple of hours we were there. I definitely discovered muscles, especially in my feet, that I didn’t know I had. By the end of the night, I was a sweaty mess, and my knees were killing me — they’re just not used to that kind of workout anymore — but I had succeeded in not killing myself.

And, you know the crazy thing? I really enjoyed myself. Sio split her time between us and her friends, and I actually enjoyed being out on the floor again. There’s a rink just a few miles from our house, and I expect I just might end up there in the not too distant future — good fun, and well-needed exercise!