February 27, 2008...5:38 pm
Olympic Dreams
Okay, with that Back to the Future reference in the last blog, and thinking about warmer days, I just had to post this one. As a kid many will vouch for my passion for roller skating. One of my best friends and I would literally spend HOURS (I’m not kidding…we could do this from sun-up to sun-down) on our skates, skating in our driveways (hers was better because it had a slight tilt) to everything from Barry Manilow’s “Mandy” and “Copa Cabana” to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” (she had a giant crush on him). The rolling shoes were practically an apendage to our bodies. I don’t think we really remembered how to walk - we just always skated. We would have been nutz over those heelys!
Well, when “Xanadu” came out, it only exacerbated the obsession with the four-wheeled shoes. I absolutely could not save my money fast enough to buy a pair of boot-style skates - I knew they were they key to becoming a professional roller skater/dancer. They were white with red and blue stripes, and boy, where they HOT! They were going to be my ticket to stardom! I was truly convinced that Figure Roller Skating would become a new Olympic sport by the time I was 16 and had perfected my incredible talent for the sport!
REALITY CHECK: In actuality, years later, the skates became my ticket to a fractured elbow and a late night trip with my dear mom to the ER. (She wasn’t too pleased…)
I haven’t doned a pare of rolling shoes - or boots - for many years. One of these days, I might try it over at the Roller Drome in Nampa, which I hear is still open. …if I get my guts up!
Enjoy the clip! (This one is for you, my friend! You know who you are!!!)
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