roller derby superstars!

okay so maybe i wasn't slamming little girl scouts into the boards, they were doing that by themselves. but i've wanted to take my girl skating, (rollerskating with four wheels all asunder and a stopper at the toe), forever. finally did it. monday. in our marathon homeschool outing day.

you see, i don't like to leave the house. ever. and when i have a mountain of laundry to get through before i leave the house, i like to leave even less. i got through said mountain, and left small clean hills here and there for our eventual return. slammed dinner in the crock pot and set on out the door for a playgroup at the park. it only happens once a month so i hate to miss it.

then, we have girl scout rollerskating. i didn't tell my girl she'd fall. i didn't tell her she'd be as wobbly as a newborn foal. but less slimey. i just slammed the skates on her feet and let her find out. what else could i do?

so she is holding on to the rail, that is a problem. these wobbly girls want to propel themselves via the rail and their upper body moves faster then their skates or the other way around. one girl kept mowing down anyone who was in the way. she was a tough one to help because she didn't want help. i guess that's why i liked her. she reminded me of me.

give me your hand,

i would say, and skate beside these wobbly girls. some would take it, some wouldn't.

i guess the real reason i went skating was because my husband told me not to go. when he tells me not to do something, it really fires my jets to get that thing done. and skating happened to be that thing. (he could use this to his advantage with a little preplanning.) i guess anyone could if they knew that about me. tell me no and i'll be damned if i'm going to be limited.

you'll get hurt. you're older. if you fall you won't bounce.

he kept telling me.

grrr. i probably growled at him. i have a fine growl. some time i should let you hear it. sounds very feline.

one thing i kept telling the girls was, keep your balance. that is all that matters. no one can balance for you.

and that really is the key to skating. the speed will come. the stops will come either by the wall, floor or tangling with another skater.

bend your knees softly, keep your arms out, my girl looked like ralph macchio on a pole at the beach, her arm crunched up.

stop bending my arm,

she'd say.

keep it straight,

i'd say.

i wasn't trying to twist the girl's arm into a pretzel. she just had a floppy grasp. i guess she was focusing on other things.

there were girls with helmets (which after watching them crash into each other and the walls for two hours, it didn't seem like a bad idea), some with inlines, some with quad skates. others with training skates, those pretty pink or yellow ones for little kids.

my back was killing me bending over to help these little girls, but it was great fun.

and when i got cut loose, cause my girl got tired or no one needed help. i skated around and around pretty fast. fast enough to cool down. and remember why i loved skating.

though skating down the beach is much better than a rink, the variables are limited in a rink, but so is the atmosphere. lots of neon, loud music. i remember loving that when i was young. it was a great way to spend a saturday, at the rollerrink.

so my girl didn't hate it. she fell ten times she said. i didn't fall once. so we'll over winter at the rollerrink. get some exercise and if i get brave enough, i may try to learn how to inline skate. i never tried them. i may like them quite a bit.

when we left there, we ran home for dinner, and then to swimming. what a day. what a day.

i was mentioning to my working poet friend how busy i was monday because he said work was busy. then i mentioned what i was doing and thought, i really have no cause for complaint. sure i'm busy but it is an entirely differnt kind of busy. it is being a kid, learning, exploring, growing kind of busy. i really could enjoy it if i tried. and so i shall.

today we're off to a field trip. peace!