On Saturday, Alexandra, the sister of Luis's friend was having a roller skating party. Having rented out the entire rink, Alexandra's parents very generously invited almost everyone they now (including us!). Luis and I packed up after breakfast to head to the rink. I told Luis he needed to wear tall pants as sometimes you fall when you roller skate and you want your legs to be protected. Before getting out the door, Luis dug up his bike helmet, to add to the protection level.
When we got to the rink, Luis and I were both pretty excited to skate. I hadn't been in a roller skating rink in 20 years, if not longer - not since the days of Kate's Skate in Rock Hill with my brothers and cousins. Turns out that roller skating rinks have not changed at all in 20 years.
Early on, Luis did a lot of falling
We got his skates (and helmet) on him pretty quickly. He then fell approximately 47 times in the next 8 minutes. And he totally lost interest (and his composure). We sat on the side - on those carpet covered mushroom like seat/tables - for nearly 30 minutes watching the other kids skate. Luis then decided to put one skate on and kind of test it out around the carpeted area. Another 30 minutes later and he had the confidence to put two skates on. I was totally amazed at the attitude shift that happened in that hour. On our second attempt at skating, when Luis fell down, instead of crying he said to me, "Mommy: Sometimes you fall down, but you just have to get back up and try again." It was rather amazing. And inspiring to me.
Keeping his balance
After about 10 minutes, Luis asked if I would skate with him. I was a little nervous about holding him up while I was on skates, but Luis's eagerness to skate with me was much more potent than a little fear. So I grabbed a pair of skates and we inched our way around the rink one time. It is in the top 3 all time great experiences with Luis.
Practically an old pro
In between skating sessions, they had a couple of contests, including a speed skate contest and a limbo contest, which I remembered from childhood. But the one that flooded me with memories was when we all got in a circle in the middle of the rink and did the Hookey Pookey. It was all so much fun!
Turns out that a camera phone is not particularly effective at capturing quickly moving things in very low lighting. I wish I'd had my good camera. Since Luis asked me to promise him that we will go back, maybe next time...
1 comment:
Awesome post! Laughed out loud at his cute little falling rate at the beginning. My childhood skating rink had those exact same songs and activities too.
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