Roller Skating Flashbacks

On Saturday the kids went roller skating with their youth group. Since I had to drive them there and wait anyway, I decided I might as well skate, too.

Roller skating was the thing to do when I was growing up. Teens would go there for dates. That was the place to have birthday parties, especially for people like my brother with winter birthdays. It was the place to hang out. We'd skate to songs like Blondie and Your Kiss is on My List. If you were lucky, someone asked you to double skate with them. Everyone did the chicken dance and the hokey pokey. The really good skaters did the limbo. I think the winner got a coupon for a free slice of pizza. If you were really good, you could skate forward, spin 180 degrees and continue backwards. (That wasn't me.) When you urgently purchased a drink from the snack bar - because skating made you feel like you'd been crawling through the dry desert with your mouth open - you skated into the picnic tables for an abrupt stop because no one really knew how to use the toe stoppers on the skates. My brother and I had metal roller skates that clipped onto your shoes. We couldn't take them to the roller rink, but they were perfect for our garage. I have happy memories of roller skating around the garage in circles with him, our radio in the middle just like at the roller rink. Really, most of my desire to skate on Saturday was probably based on nostalgia. I mean, look at the disco ball and lights!

Just like in the 80s! It was a little disheartening, though, when I was asked to fill out a waiver because I was OVER 18. Usually I have to fill one out for the kids at places like this. Nope, at the roller rink, old people have to waive all liability. I also had to indicate whether or not I had health insurance. Skating was strongly discouraged for anyone over 18 who did not have health insurance. The 80s suddenly felt like a very long time ago.

 

Being well over 18, I decided I better visit the restroom before making my way onto the skating floor. I didn't think it out very well, though, and put my skates on before making the visit. First of all, I do not remember the toilets being so far down when I was 11! You add that extra height from the skates...that's a long way down. Well, the sitting down wasn't difficult, but the getting up was nearly impossible! I felt like Clara when she walks on our laminate floor. My feet were going all kinds of directions except under me! For a minute I feared I'd have to slide off the toilet onto my knees and then work my way up...but that would have left me a little "exposed" under the stall walls. After a lot of laughing and scrambling, I finally made it up without losing any modesty. Thinking about it now still makes me laugh.

Contrary to popular belief roller skating does not come back to you quite as quickly as riding a bike. I didn't fall, but I was certainly not the 11 year old pro I remember myself being. I did do better than Tyler and Danielle, though. They both thought it was much more difficult than ice skating. Danielle lasted longer than Tyler, but neither of them are in any hurry to go again.

I really did have a lot of fun. I don't remember my knees hurting or worrying about breaking body parts as much in the 80s. I also don't remember constantly seeking out the hand sanitizer or worrying about whether or not they actually sprayed all those skates with fungicide. But I laughed a lot - mostly at myself.  I missed my brother, though. He was my best skating partner and it just wasn't quite the same without him. Next time he'll have to join us.

I wish I could have captured the smell. Wait, no I don't. Trust me, it was bad.