Roller World

I remember the first time I ever went roller skating. We lived in Colorado, I have no idea what the name of the rink was, and I stayed on the "kiddie rink" the whole night. And, although it looked nothing like the movie Zanadu, I remember watching the other people (other people meaning my VERY cool sisters) and wanting to go that fast, and look that good, but still trying to manuever my first grade body to not fall.

Well, as I got older (and we moved back to MA), I still continued to go roller skating at Roller World in Saugus. I would go for Girl Scout and school parties. The place would be packed with kids, the snack bar would be filled with smoke and adults (back then nobody was EVER worried about second hand smoke) and it would the event of the school year. I even graduated to Saturday nights when all the really fly people went...oh ya, I was that cool! I can remember at one point taking lessons with my BFF at the time every Monday afternoon. I got so good that I could skate backwards, do the crossover as I turned the corner, and I mastered "shoot the duck". I would always come home with blisters on my feet, but I loved it so much. I loved the music, the lights, and all that went along with it.

Well, about 11 years ago (when I was staying in a place called Project Cope) we got to go roller skating one sunday night, and once again I had a blast. I felt like I was a kid all over again. The surprising thing was that I could get right back up on those bad boys and skate that I had just done it the day before. It truley was just like riding a bike....you never forget!

Well, last night the kids had a school party at a local roller rink and since I had the night off, I told them we could go. Now they had gone a few times before with their old after school program so they were so excited. I wasn't sure if I would skate or not, depending on my foot, but I knew the kids would have a blast. Well, before we got there I decided my foot was feeling good I would give it a try, I mean how hard can it be (just like riding a bike, remember?)

So, we showed at promptly 6:00 and we were the first ones there, but we didn't care, we went in, got our skates laced up and the kids were ready. I have to admit, I was a little nervous standing up, but I faced my fears and just did it, and you know what, IT IS NOT LIKE RIDING A BIKE!! Sure, I got up and remembered how to move, but I had no recolection what so ever on how to stop, skate backwards, and I could forget about shooting the duck. But the most important thing was that in all the times I skated, I had no idea how many leg muscles were used! I was so sore, I thought I was going to die. And to top it off, the good ol' blisters are back.

All in all, we had a great time. There wern't many people there, only about 30, but that was problably for the best because the kids each fell about 26 times and there was no fear of anyone running over fingers or causing a 7 kid pile-up. The kids were so impressed by my skills, but Maddie was annoyed by my dancing (per usual) and we decided that we are going to go to these whenever they come up!

-Meg