So last weekend was Sidney's 13th birthday extravaganza. I took her and carload of giggly, loud, gossipy, also soon to be teenage girls to the skating rink. This was the third "skating" birthday party Sidney has had and at the previous two I skated as well. This was okay because those other times, there were oher parents skating too. This time around, with the exception of two other parents (who left pretty early in the evening) I was the ONLY adult on skates. Luckily Sidney didn't seem to be too horrified at the prospect of me skating alongside her and her friends so I just went for it. I like rollerskating and I'll be damned if I'm gonna let a bunch of skinny jean wearing emo teenagers ruin my fun. It went okay. There was one girl who didn't know how to skate and spent the entire time in the food court. I kinda felt like it was my motherly obligation to sit with her and keep her company......buuuut, I really wanted to skate. Hey, I never said I was gonna win mother of the year. I did spend a good 45 minutes just trying to help her get comfortable on her skates, but to no avail, so I felt I'd done my part. SO, I skated. They play way too many games that took up alot of the free skate time though and at one point they did a "sock hop" where everyone took there skates off and danced on the rink. That lasted for like three songs!! LAME! Towards the end of the evening, after making my way around the rink a few times, I stepped out of the rink onto the carpet to make my way to the bathroom and wham! A skinny little punk with inline skates who was barreling his way out of the rink cut me off and clipped my skate. Both feet went out from under me and I landed hard on my rump in front of what seemed like 800 13yr. olds. It was brilliant. I must have also tried to catch myself with my right hand because i slammed it down hard enoug to bust a blood vessel and sprain my wrist. I spent the remainder of the evening in the car.
It hasn't deterred me from wanting to skate though. Sidney had so much fun that she wanted to go skating again on Sunday. We took Jordan and she brought a friend. Since Sunday is family day I got in half price :) We have decided we are going to try to go every Sunday, because its good exercise and the kids want to learn to skate better. Sundays are good because, first (and most importantly)there aren't NEARLY as many teenagers there, secondly its just not as busy, and thirdly adults are skating. Plus, it is kind of entertaining!! Remember that skating rink guy who worked at you local skating rink when you were a kid? Or even that guy in your grade who was a super good skater? You know the guy I'm talking about...he had all the moves. He made skating look so easy, he could switch from going forward to going backward more smoothly on skates that i can on bare feet. Plus he could moonwalk..and twirl in little circles landing on the toes of his skates. That guy was amazing...in the dim lights of the skating rink that is. When we were at the rink on Friday i observed one of these guys, probably about 15 or 16, weaving in and out of preteens like a snake through grass. He sorta resembled Napolean Dynamite, tall and lanky, curly hair, acne. I was thinking, this is probably the only place he feels like he is cool. Here, on this slick blue floor, under these disco lights, outdated pop music pumping in his ears, he is a god. Have you ever wondered what happens to those guys? Do they end up moving to some country where roller skating is actually a proffesion? Do they get a gig working at Sonic corporate headquarters training carhops? Well I happen to know what happens to them, because they were all at the skating rink on Sunday. They grow up and get regular jobs and wifes and have kids of their own who they then drag to the skating rink on Sundays so they can whip out all those old moves...and yes, they can still moonwalk on skates.