Sunday, February 21, 2010

My Olympic Moment

The ladies figure skating competition in the olympics is going to start soon. Are you as excited as I am?

When I was a child, I LOVED ice skating. Not just watching - actually skating. I begged for lessons. I didn't get them for the same reason I didn't get gymnastics lessons - Skeletor wasn't interested.

She was, however, interested in piano, ballet, and irish dancing. I wasn't very good at any of them. Charmaine was great at all of them (that bitch)!

Charmaine felt bad for me. She tried her hardest to convince Skeletor to let me have ice skating lessons, or even take me to a rink to just skate - to no avail.

She was undeterred. It was winter in Connecticut. She knew it was going to snow. She took the garden hose to the front yard next to the driveway and set about pouring water. By morning, the little puddle was frozen. She brushed off the snow. And there it was.

My own personal ice skating rink.

I strapped on my skates. The rink was no more than 7" long and 5" wide. Just enough to skate forward a bit and do a little twirl. If anyone drove by, I'd try to stop really fast. I knew I had to look like a freak. But it was worth it.

Like Frosty the Snowman, the rink would soon melt. Until the next storm when, without fail, Charmaine would be out in the front yard with the garden hose.

Thanks Charmaine.

2 comments:

SSP said...

how come you never came to the rec center with me??? i know i was there a lot freshman year, maybe not as much as a sophmore, but i had no idea you were an ice dancer at heart!! when i came back for grad school, debi thomas was there practicing before going to the olympics.....i love it and havnet done it in years...

how are you?

Briana said...

I don't think I could stand up on skates by then. I did watch you a few times :) You were fabulous!