Learning to fly

I've been roller skating outside on the bike path all week, getting ready for RollerCon. Skating outside is much harder than it looks and I feel like I'm creeping along, sweating my ass off, but never really getting anywhere.

Disheartened at my lack of progress, I headed over to the Diva's home rink, The Skatin' Station, for a bit of Friday night fun. It wasn't too crowded, which was nice. I was the only adult on skates and several kids looked amused as I strapped on my pads and adjusted my newly stretched skates (aaaaah, bliss...).

Big difference from the bike path! That feeling of zipping around the rink like a cold beer on a hot day is addictive. I almost felt like a jammer as I weaved in and out around the slower skaters. Granted, nobody was trying to block me or knock me down, but for someone who could barely stand up on skates a few months ago, this was an incredibly empowering feeling.

Since the rink wasn't crowded, I eventually started to practice falls in the corners. After one extremely smooth right knee 180 (yeah, I was proud) I stopped to adjust my laces. A young girl skated over to me, very concerned, and our conversation went like this:

Girl: "Are you okay?"
Me: "I'm fine. Believe it or not, I fell on purpose. I'm just tightening my laces while I'm down here."
Girl: "Oh." She thought a moment and then added, "Why would you fall on purpose?"
Me: I was thinking, "Ah, Grasshopper, good question. And why would you put on a pair of roller skates and dare a whole posse of tough bitches to try to knock you down? And why would you get back up and do it all over again? Because it's the most fun you can have without breaking the law, that's why!" But what I said was, "Because the more you fall down, the more opportunities you have to get back up." Pearls of wisdom, I tell you, pearls of wisdom.
Girl: "Um, okay." And she skated away, but watched me for the rest of the night and applauded every time I did a fall.

I am such a rock star.