Me: Hey, Trine, they rent roller skates still so you don't even need to bring your roller blades! I know you are out and about and Matt's with the kids so it would be totally cool for you to meet us there!
Trine: What? OH, you mean, me...by myself...meet you at the roller rink?
Me: Yeah, like, it would be so totally cool,I wonder if they still have that creepy music dj...
Trine:... and those icky roller rink guys that chain smoke...
Me:...and all that wood panelling and stinky carpet...
Trine:...and weird roller rink floor and gross-out food stand???
Me: I don't know, I haven't been there for 20 years or so
Trine: I didn't even know that place was still open!
Nooooo, sorry...I can't really come...but I hope you get the BROWN skates HAHAHAHAHAHA!
I so TOTALLY got the brown skates...and they were
FABULOUS!
I didn't want to taint the experience by roller blading when the situation clearly called for a retro-application. It was like hopping on a bike after all those years. I couldn't believe how comfy skates were compared to blades! Also, they were probably leather and 20 years old which would explain the comfy-ness. I swear I had more fun than the kids. It was hard not to grin really wide as I skated and felt the wind in my hair (hat-hair...they made me take off my lid, darn roller rink rules) and watching all the little ones have so much fun falling. I don't think one kid that fell even once started to cry...it seemed like they were TRYING to fall!
The roller rink was where I first learned how to flirt. It was the first place I had freedom from parents. It was one of the first places I experienced social interaction outside of school. It was the first place I learned about rejection of my peers (snowball skate...boys on one side choose girls on other wall...never got picked to hold hands and skate around and around) and about catching a boy's eye. I learned how to skate backward and cross over my feet without tripping. I learned how to show off a little but not take risky moves too much for fear of falling on my face. I learned that being one of the tallest girls in the class (at the time until they all shot up over me in 7th grade) was a MAJOR disadvantage when it came to the "limbo" on skates. I learned that if you ration your treat money, there might be some left over so you can bring home money for your change jar and mom and dad won't ask for it back. I learned that skating all night makes your legs sore but it kinda feels good to have sore legs once in a while...kind of like working out after a long time of not working out. Hurts so good. Jack and Dianne. YMCA. Eye Of The Tiger. Jessie's girl. Thriller.
Good times, good times.
Same wood panelling.
Same old stinky lockers.
Same old fake brick tiled bathrooms.
Same blue lights that make your shirt look like it's glowing if it's white.
Same icky, overpriced stuff at the same old icky concession stand.
Same foosball table for the boys who can't skate but are too cool to admit it.
Same carpet-covered coffee-table shaped things to sit on if you get tired.
Same old me, acting like a big nerd on my brown skates...and just like the roller rink I'm a little older and more than a little nerdier...
