Throughout Junior High and part of High School, I lived at the Paramount Skating Rink. Roller skating was my life, my passion, my thing. Actually, I went because the skating rink was next door to the bowling alley, so our parents were able to do their league thing while us kids were safely next door skating our brains out. And also because I knew that eventually, Aaron would show up.
I had my very own pair of skates and they looked like this:
Except I had big pink pom poms with bells on them.
I can still remember waiting fervently for Aaron to show up at the rink. He was the skating God. I was in love. He was my first crush. He was handsome and (in my eyes)he could do everything. I would hone my skating skills until he got there and wait with bated breath for the "ladies choice slow skate". I would stalk him in the arcade and follow him to the concession area. Occasionally he would agree to the slow skate, but my unrequited love was always there. I would go home and cry and cry and cry, because "Mom, he just doesn't love me the way I love him." Teenage love and angst is a bitch.
Don Henley's song "Dirty Laundry" was a sure bet for the backward skate, and I was out there every time. I could do the crazy figure eight thing with my skates, both forward and backward. I was awesome.
Of course there were the skating games like the limbo, and the dice game and shooting the duck, (which I almost always won).
When the movie Boogie Nights came out, my little brother started calling me Roller Girl, even though I hadn't been skating in years.
So when Zane, the Great White Lizard Hunter, started begging me to go roller skating, I was all over it.
I told him how awesome I was, I bragged like a school girl - then we got to the rink Sunday afternoon, and I put on my pair of rented skates.
Roller skating is not like riding a bike, people. 25 years can do a lot to a person. I stood up, still confident, and promptly
almost ate shit.
I got my bearings, and was able to make it around the rink. I even did the backward skate, but the fancy figure eights eluded me, and my arms did a lit of wind-milling!
Meanwhile, the little guy was doing circles around me in his roller blades. Show Off!
I think my favorite part of this experience were they guys. The guys my age and older, who apparently never stopped skating since the 80's. They were going around in circles, tightly packed together, skating their signature moves in line with one another, shoulders bouncing up and down. 40 something guys skating disco-like to Rihanna's Disturbia is just a little unnerving! They thought they were the shit though, and they were showing off for us Moms just like we were back in Junior High and patiently waiting for the slow skate so they could act all cool in the arcade while us girls scoped them out and begged for a partner.
Today, I am sore, but I am happy to have relived that experience, and look forward to going again. I even picked out a brand new pair of pretty white skates with pink wheels and laces. I might just get them. I'll forego the poms poms this time, though.
Do you guys have any fun skating rink memories?
