After many adventures in my life; from driving a 6000 pound Land Rover full laden on the edge of sheer cliffs in Colorado to running 100 miles and beyond non-stop, I had never been ice skating. For some reason, this sport just terrified me. Maybe it was the stories of people falling and getting their fingers run over and chopped off, or the person who broke their ankle. Whatever it was, I just was never interested and always figured ways to get out of going. Well, this year, I wasn’t getting out of it!
It all began innocently last night when my family along with two other families went to see the lights at the Mission Inn in Riverside, CA. The whole downtown area is transformed into a sort of Winter Wonderland with everything you could want including Gingerbread men, the world’s best hot cocoa, Santa, Reindeer, and, you guessed it, outdoor ice skating. My 8 year old boys really wanted to go and I used the excuse that the line would be way too long. Their friends were going, but we had not eaten dinner yet, so we used that to split up from the group. As we were searching for food, we came to the rink and guess who was at the front of the line? Our friends. Now what?!? I quickly went into, “it will cost too much and you guys will only skate for a few minutes and be done.” That wasn’t working and now my wife had traded sides and was saying, “come on, it will be fun!” I tried the old “I’ll just watch and take pictures” line, but now our friends became traders too. I was standing by myself with no back up. I caved and went for it.
Our session began at 8pm and it was now 7:30pm. I now had the chance to watch the previous session participants fall, slam into the wall, come off the ice looking terrified, and some being helped off by the “ice refs”. I was more nervous than at the start of a race. When I got my skates, I inspected them and realized that they really were not like strapping mini-swords to your feet. This made me feel a little better. I spent the next several minutes busying myself with putting my kids’ skates on and mine as well. Before I knew it our session had begun. My boys took off along the wall before I could even get a foot on the ice. I was hoping to go with them so I had an excuse to hang on to the wall. I finally stepped up to the ice, grabbed the wall, and put one foot on then quickly the second foot and simultaneously let go of the wall. I was now “gliding” forward and not sure what to do. I bent my knees and started moving my feet to propel myself forward. How I hadn’t fallen yet, I do not know. Maybe it was just survival. I spotted my boys and aimed for them hoping I wouldn’t take them out once I got to them. When I caught up with them, I slowly did several laps with them. To my amazement, I was not hanging on to the wall like I had envisioned myself doing! Once my kids decided they needed a break, I kept going. I started going faster and faster. Before I knew it, I was cruising around the ice dodging fallen skaters and weaving in and out of people.
I ended up staying out there for nearly an hour and a half without falling. My boys did awesome and picked it up fairly quick. As for my wife, well she grew up skating. Now I look back and wonder why I had evaded this fun pastime. I will definitely be out there again and no longer will avoid it.
So, what else have I avoided that I need to conquer next? Sky diving?
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