Memory Lane

Today is my day off. It's cold outside, so to keep warm, I decided to troll the internet just to see what I might find. When I was a teenager, our family roller skated competitively. (No - not roller derby! Don't go there!!) We went to local and regional competitions and, because Mom and Dad skated in a division with few competitors, usually went to nationals. I competed for six years, taught for five, and for years judged competitions and profiency tests and helped to take the judges' scores and tabulate the results (pre-computer, you had to do it by hand!). The sport was kind of a focal point in our family's life. The family who skates together, stays together? *shrug*

Anyway, I thought I'd see if any of the old familiar names might pop up on the internet and happened to come across a website dedicated to artistic roller skating in the 60's, 70's, and 80's. Browsing through the guestbook, it was interesting to see notes from household names (well, at least in our household), people I hadn't thought of for years! It was sad, though, to learn that one of the big names had died recently and unexpectedly. He was several years younger than me. But that's part of traveling Memory Lane.

I'm not planning to pull out my skates anytime in the near future. It's been a bit too long since I last had them on. However, I do from time to time wonder what it would be like to get back to competitive skating again. Things have changed a lot over the years. Now those who turned professional (like me) can compete again. I'd have to travel to Houston to pull that off, though. The rink here in town (where I used to teach) doesn't have a competitive club anymore. Nope! Don't think I'm going to do the 3-hour round trip just for a couple of hours of lessons and practice. I'm not that dedicated. *chuckle*

And the type of skating I'd like to do requires a partner. *snort* Couldn't find a partner when I was actually competing. There weren't that many guys who wanted to dance skate, then, and I'm pretty sure there wouldn't be that many around here now. My specialty ended up being the compulsory figures that everyone used to hate in the ice skating olympics. I could chase that line with the best of them! Well, sort of. I'm not particularly interested in taking that back up again either.

So, I guess I'll just enjoy an occasional trek down Memory Lane. Catch ya later!