1984 - freedom on wheels

if you are a consistent reader of my blog, you might vaguely remember my obsession with getting my three year old daughter roller skates. and how it almost didn't happen. and then it did. 

well, it's all because i got roller skates when i was three. and i loved them. 

fisher-price. yellow, green and red. adjustable. the kind you wear with your shoes.

 {one happy three year old}

those skates equaled freedom. i might as well have been touring the world. or flying (although, i'm sure i could probably walk faster than i could skate at that point). 

i spent a lot of my spare time {and when you're three you have a lot of spare time} rolling around our house, our unfinished basement, the neighbor's house, the neighbor's unfinished basement and our tiny slab that we called a back patio. 

as i grew, so did the skates. it was brilliant.

my love for skating matured even further when my best friend jamie upgraded to a pair of real roller skates. white, high top lace-ups with a pastel rainbow splashed across the side. the kind with slick wheels that actually roller on their own - no walking, tromping or stomping involved. you had to have some real skill. 

{birthday celebration with the augers, 1984 - 

dan, maren, scott, kevin, jamie, jared, joann, jenni}

don't get me wrong. i loved the f-p adjustables, but i reeeeeeeeeeeeally loved the real things. it was as if my skates were the perfect training wheels to prepare me for the real deal. jamie must have had two pair {or maybe her sister had a pair?} because we spent hours gliding around her linoleum laden  kitchen before were kindly redirected by her mom to the great outdoors. 

in addition to hours of after school fun, the consistent practice led to some mad skills at the 49th street galleria for birthday parties. 

{49th street galleria, 1987}

to me, the roller skates represent everything good about childhood. carefree days spent playing with the best of friends. a bit of independence and slowly gaining confidence to...i don't know...conquer the world or something. ok, probably not, but at least gaining confidence to know that i can learn and succeed at new, unknown and sometimes very painful and difficult things. 

my bruised three year old bottom can attest to that.