randompersonrandom
GLP-1 Specialist
A dear friend asked if I might like to come with him to take his daughter and her friend roller skating. I was delighted and said yes, of course, because in my head there is nothing I love more than a roller rink. I grew up on roller skates, and the roller rink was THE place to be in my small town on weekends.
It occurred to me on the way there that the last time I was on roller skates, I wasn't yet twenty-six. I am currently forty-five. But I practically live on a razor scooter as my six-mile-radius form of transportation, and thought "it's fine, you don't forget how to roller skate."
Turns out yes, yes you CAN forget how to roller skate and need to relearn. I fell once, in the first five minutes, then picked myself up, thought "ope, not THAT way, maybe try something different" and tried a lot of different things til my body remembered how it works and I could skate again. Was mostly fine, had reasonable speed and smoothness, though the occasional blip in balance. I skated for two hours, and fell again, near the end. Was watching a guy dance, thought "I wonder if I could still dance on skates" and just thinking about it was enough to make something go funny, and I did the splits, and went down on my front, practically in a belly-flop. The guy helped me up, I laughed and said "Was wondering if I could dance like you, and my body said ABSOLUTELY NOT" and I went a few more rounds, and then it was time to go.
My ass is a little sore on the left from the first fall, and my arms and knees are a little sore from the second fall. But I am sitting on the couch, reflecting on how grateful and fortunate I am to be 45 and healthy enough that two hard falls on a wooden floor don't seem to be enough to truly injure me. I have friends my age who have had a fall while just going about their business and end up breaking bones in multiple places, or tearing some tendon or other, or suffering other need-surgery injuries. But hitting the ground for me at 45 feels pretty much the same as it did when I was 25; "OOF, better get up before anybody sees me, how embarrassing" and I'll be sore tomorrow. And that feels like such a terribly good deal.
Also, five stars for roller rinks, they are still as wonderful as they were when I was newer on the planet!
It occurred to me on the way there that the last time I was on roller skates, I wasn't yet twenty-six. I am currently forty-five. But I practically live on a razor scooter as my six-mile-radius form of transportation, and thought "it's fine, you don't forget how to roller skate."
Turns out yes, yes you CAN forget how to roller skate and need to relearn. I fell once, in the first five minutes, then picked myself up, thought "ope, not THAT way, maybe try something different" and tried a lot of different things til my body remembered how it works and I could skate again. Was mostly fine, had reasonable speed and smoothness, though the occasional blip in balance. I skated for two hours, and fell again, near the end. Was watching a guy dance, thought "I wonder if I could still dance on skates" and just thinking about it was enough to make something go funny, and I did the splits, and went down on my front, practically in a belly-flop. The guy helped me up, I laughed and said "Was wondering if I could dance like you, and my body said ABSOLUTELY NOT" and I went a few more rounds, and then it was time to go.
My ass is a little sore on the left from the first fall, and my arms and knees are a little sore from the second fall. But I am sitting on the couch, reflecting on how grateful and fortunate I am to be 45 and healthy enough that two hard falls on a wooden floor don't seem to be enough to truly injure me. I have friends my age who have had a fall while just going about their business and end up breaking bones in multiple places, or tearing some tendon or other, or suffering other need-surgery injuries. But hitting the ground for me at 45 feels pretty much the same as it did when I was 25; "OOF, better get up before anybody sees me, how embarrassing" and I'll be sore tomorrow. And that feels like such a terribly good deal.
Also, five stars for roller rinks, they are still as wonderful as they were when I was newer on the planet!
