Originally published September 18, 2007

last night i bought roller skates (and the required knee/elbow pads to accompany them).  i was excited — bouncy even.  i couldn’t wait to get home, slap them on and re-teach myself to skate.  in my head i imagined myself, next spring, decked out in striped tube socks, skates and cutie-pie shorts zipping around piedmont park feeling the wind in my face.

good thing my imagination gave me until next spring because in reality i wobbled down the stairs and made it almost halfway down my walk before my feet came out from under me and i found myself flat on my ass, glasses several feet away in the grass, swearing loudly into my phone (yes, one of my best friends did insist on staying on the phone to observe/call 911 if necessary), and thanking god that i listened to my mom and bought elbow pads.

somehow between when i left my house to purchase said skates and arrived back, skates-in-hand, the “flat” parking lot in front of my building had magically turned into a hill.  i wobbled through the grass to another parking lot (next to the laundry, no less, so i had an audience) and proceeded to shuffle around in a medium sized circle for 15 minutes, all the while having a highly inappropriate-in-public conversation.

once tracye trusted that she would not, after all, need to call 911 we hung up the phone and i discovered that it is WAY easier to balance when using both hands — shocking, i know.  I skated about, poorly, for another 15 minutes feeling like a total spazz, but having a good time none-the-less.  i am now resolved to finding a tennis court near me on which to practice.  i am determined to become, by spring, that lithe roller-skater i see in my head.