Rollerblading

When Shaun and I first got married, he was really into rollerblading. He had some crappy blades so we went and bought him a nice pair and I wore his old ones to practice on. I don't think I'd ever been rollerblading before. Of course I started off really rocky. The Provo trail that we went on was a bunch of little hills. When I started to go too fast down one hill, it wasn't very long before I was going up a little hill that would slow me down sufficiently to roll into the grass and stop. I never could get the hang of the back brake. I got pretty dang good. Of course I was still wearing Shaun's rejects that rode more like Fisher Price skates then real rollerblades. Finally we decided to get me a pair that were nicer... and that actually fit. I could tell a huge difference, but then I had to learn all over again. My new ones went much faster and would keep rolling in the grass. But after a little while, I got ok again. We had so much fun going up and down the stinky Provo River Trail packed full of carp. I never got as good at Shaun, he could smoke me in seconds, but I thought I could hold my own, and my number of crashes went down.
Fast forward 4 years. When we moved here, I was working graveyard shift at the hospital, and soon after I got pregnant with Alex. Then comes Annie. Needless to say, I haven't been on rollerblades since we left Provo. Today I decided I really wanted to go. Shaun made me mad by refusing to go with me, but dang it, I was going to go. I strapped on my blades and headed out the door, barely hearing Shaun's warning not to go down Trent since the whole block is down hill. Fine, I turned left to cut across the complex, and started down a different hill, I got going too fast too quick, and barely caught myself from falling into the grass. It's been a while, but I figured I would be ok. I get to yet another hill, and this time I'm not so lucky. I got going too fast and had to choose between crashing into the dirt or using the telephone pole to crash/support into. The telephone pole won, and I got a funny look from a couple of old men. I stayed in the grass for a bit more determined to have some fun, but as soon as I got on the sidewalk again, I was going down another hill and this one had a road outlet that I had to get across. I made it across the street, but then I crashed on the other side. Then up a hill and down the other side with obvious results. I'm now thinking that I should probably go home. I'm not going to be an effective mother with two broken legs and a broken neck, which looked likely if I kept crashing like I was. I took a different way home, extremely disappointed in my failure. I can't believe I can't do it at all anymore. Half way home I skate past an eight or nine year old who so nicely comments, "You don't skate very good!" Thanks, I wasn't aware. I managed to make it home in one piece, but I'm going to get better at this again. Only next time I'm going to drive to a flatter path, and I will make Shaun come with me so if I do break my leg, he can at least get me home!