random thoughts – Day 1,560 – (Tuesday) – old friends and pink light

Hello, my dear old friends.

There was an event after work tonight that allowed for spending some quality time with a couple dear old friends. As much as I looked forward to it, it was still a bit awkward. The event was a family roller skating night where we had the entire place to ourselves. 

My old friends were my Reidell quad wheel derby skates, which have been neglected for years in my skate bag in the junk room. If not for my hoarding tendencies and emotional attachments to things, I would have disposed of them years ago.

Although I have dreamt about it and imagined doing it again for ages, tonight was only the second time I’ve spent quality time in my skates since our dramatic break. You know, the one where I literally broke my leg in two places in the final roller derby event of our team's first season. My parting gift from that little escapade was a metal rod in my shin. The gift that keeps on giving was nerve damage issues in my foot and leg that lingered for years. The first time I was back on skates was also a banking event at the same rink, several years ago in the pre-pandemic times.

The event was great. Our small-ish group had plenty of room to spread out. The gleaming and glossy floor reflected the colorful lighting which was heavy on the pink tones. Parents guided and supported wee ones on the the rink. Some of the kids were invincible. They fell and they got up. Over and over again, completely unfazed. The parents were also pretty amazing, wrangling the wee ones, keeping them upright and managing to defy gravity and stay upright themselves.

Colored light splendor.

As for me, I took it easy. Really easy. It was slow skating, mostly with all eight wheels on the floor because I like how it feels, both the connection with the floor and ability to slow down and speed up without lifting a foot. The urge to skate fast with crossovers was resisted. It was hard, but not that hard, because there were so many itty bitty wee ones there and tiny tots on wheels have always scared me more than any roller derby opponent ever did. 

I took lots of breaks because my legs were feeling it. Maybe it was my brief dalliance with the leg machines at the gym on Sunday. Plus, I’m a hundred years older than that year I broke my leg and out of shape compared to those days when I skated four to six hours a week and danced in between.  Dang those were good times. Today was also a good time, just a slightly different, much milder flavor.