Roller skating to conquer fears.

I was in second grade.  It was Laura Brophy's birthday party.  Laura Brophy is the same girl who I would later let borrow my flute and then never returned it.  Laura Brophy is now a  music teacher.  I think I deserve some credit in this. ANYWAY. As I was saying, it was second grade and Laura Brophy held her birthday party at a roller skating rink.  I was terrified. I vividly remember sitting by myself in an adjoining room while everyone else fearlessly skated.

Skate Trainer

Twenty years later, and I decided it was about time to conquer my fears, so when a few friends from work asked if I wanted to go to the United Skates of America with them, I said hell yes.  The lovely ladies I went skating with, Melissa, Rose, and Leslie, brought along their kids, because well, it makes sense to have kids if you're going roller skating.  They graciously said I could share a kid and pretend that I'm helping them when in reality, they're helping me.  Thank god, United Skates have these contraptions called "skate trainers" that you can rent out. I had initially tried to tag along with Melissa's daughter on her skate trainer but I was definitely hindering her skating, so I had to get my own.  My friends kept encouraging me to go "Left! Right! Left! Right!" but I literally could not do it.  All I could do was grip the skate trainer for dear life and try to avoid all of the falling children.  So many causalities!!!  I made it around twice before I had to take a break. I was sweating profusely, arms hurting from relying on the trainer so much.  Melissa tried to help me off, which resulted to me clinging to her and  accidentally half-taking her shirt off.  Good times. I gave up on clinging to her, and decided to just sit down on the floor and crawl off the rink.  A skating referee guy asked if I needed help and I told him no thanks, I'm fine with crawling.  I didn't give up though! I think I made it around the rink eight or so more times (granted, with the trainer), before I put myself in charge of getting sodas. A couple of the other kids were also discouraged from falls, but most of them seemed to have already graduated from their trainers to flying solo.  Good for them!!

Going nowhere fast!

Take note: our feet are basically on the ground.

After all of the falls and sweat, we decided to try out the rock climbing wall. NOT EASY, folks.  Melissa and I blame the fact that we attempted the climb in our socks (our shoes were in our lockers, which we somehow managed to lose over $5.00 each on because we don't understand how to use lockers), for getting nowhere. All of the children reached higher heights than us. No biggie, haha.

Despite the fact that there was lots of perspiring, relying on a trainer, and climbing nowhere, I'm actually quite glad I went because I did it! I conquered a fear! Next up: biking!!