Hell on wheels

I have finished grading finals! That is not a fun task. I also got my semester grades done and entered into the system, so I'm officially done with my semester now. That's such a good feeling.

I took a break from grading Thursday night to take L roller skating with my friend O and her children. It was a bit of a treck, as the roller rink is in Watertown. I don't think there are any rinks closer to us (at least not with a nice wood floor).

Their rental skates were deplorable! It also completely bothered me and grossed me out to think about the other feet and possible nastiness that had been in those skates before me. That never bothered me before. I don't remember even thinking about it, but now...kind of disturbing.

The last time I went skating was here in town, before the roller rink closed. It was probably ten years ago or so, and we took Dej. I was a bit nervous about remembering how to skate after only going once in the last 25 years. I used to be quite the little roller rink rat--going every single weekend for a few years in my teens. I was quite good at skating back then. I was hoping I would feel right at home and it would all come rushing back to me once I got the skates on, but it wasn't quite that simple.

As I was trying to get back into it and get comfortable, I noticed that the wheels were really chewed up (which does not help!). Also, L was afraid and very timid on the skates, which surprised me a bit. She was clutching on to me for dear life and did so for most of the night. As we got further into the night and I was getting more comfortable and secure, I was able to catch her and keep her from falling most of the time. The first part of the night, though, she took a fairly bad fall right onto her tailbone. It looked horribly painful, and she cried, and I felt sick. She went back out, though, and I was proud of her for being so brave.

I didn't think until later in the evening that I should have taught her how to fall safely right at the beginning. I was so busy trying to teach her to skate and keep her balance, I didn't think about the falling thing. I know when I learned how to downhill ski, the first thing the instructor taught us was how to fall, because falling is a guarantee. I feel pretty bad that I didn't and could have prevented a couple of bad falls if I had. Now she knows, though, so next time should be better.

She took me out on one of her really bad falls, and my whole (considerable) weight came down on my left knee. It's quite bruised, puffy, and sore as hell. I've been doing a lot of ice and Aleve since then. It should start to improve soon, as I'm being pretty careful with it. I need it to improve soon. I am losing ground in my workouts and strength levels that I've built up with my regular exercise, and I'm getting very frustrated. Plus I am starting on the sanding/refinishing the hardwood floors this week on Weds., and I need to be fully mobile.

I was pretty pleased that L said she wants to go skating again, probably every other week during the summer. It was fun, and I realized that I really miss skating. I used to love it, and I still do. I want to get back to my previous skill level with it. It's also good exercise, and that's become very important to me over the past few months. I may get some knee pads before we go again. I can't afford to be slowed down by knee problems! I also may have to load my Android up with some good music, because the music they played SUCKED! I was forced to listen to a whole Miley Cyrus song, and that's grounds for gouging out my own eardrums. That simply cannot happen again!

My friend's boys, Logan and Colton, had a completely different approach to skating than L did. There was no gripping mommy and taking things as slowly as possible. No--they were all about running as fast as they can on the skates. They skated like little hockey players. Go as fast as you can, balls to the wall, fall, get back up, go as fast as possible... It was funny to watch the very different approaches. They were very cute on their skates. Because they are boys of a certain age, I have to restrain my impulses to grab them and squeeze them and tell them how cute they are. They were so cute skating, that I almost blew it and mauled them, but envisioning their horrified little faces kept my behavior in check.

I had to save the most exciting news for last: We have a nest full of baby robins on our front light again. I try not to terrorize them by looking too often or taking pics. I only have one good one right now, but I will try again later today or tomorrow for more. Mommy is never far from them. While I was snapping the photo of the babies (only one is showing here though), mommy was ferociously yelling at me from our 'Twisty Baby' locust.