We're so lucky to live in a part of our big wide world that you can swim, ski, hike, hop and do cartwheels like a lunatic. My family moved here when I was just a wee one of 9 years old. Moving from a land-locked state like Texas to New England opened my eyes to a ton...
I was so happy to be invited to go "skating" with my new friends in 4th grade after only been in Massachusetts for 2 weeks. I gathered together my skates and my knee pads and shoved them into a small rainbow bag with Mork and Mindy on the side and put on my best pair of tight Jordache Jeans with white stitching. I waited inside my new house on Larson Road for my friend's Mom to come pick me up. It was pretty cold outside; I guess it was normal for February, but not for someone like me who was used to 100+ degree weather in Texas.
My friend's Mom pulled up in a dark brown car and honked the horn twice - I ran outside after saying "Goodbye" to my Mother and as I approached the car I noticed she was smoking a cigarette with the windows rolled up. I hadn't really ever seen that before so I remember thinking it was kinda weird and cool at the same time. I climbed in and my new friends were waiting for me in the back seat. With no seatbelts on, we drove only a short distance down the road and stopped outside of a lake. I was confused. Where was the roller skating rink? Did we have to park here and walk through the woods to get to it? "Ok" I thought, and tried to look like I knew what I was doing as I grabbed my rainbow bag and exited the vehicle. My friends were all bundled up and sat down at the side of the lake and took out their ice skates. I took out my roller skates. Gosh, I didn't know people ice skated? Even outside on a lake that was frozen? I know it might sound silly, but being a 9 year old kid moving from extreme hot to pretty darn frozen was a shocker for me. My roller skates didn't work on ice so my friends took turns with their ice skates with me instead.
This is great.