Ice Skating

Ice Skating

Ice skating was an important form of entertainment for my parents. Both mentioned skating with friends on the river when they were young.  Thus as they started their family, they wanted to give us every advantage. As soon as winter snows would allow, Dad would bank out a small area of our yard  by shoveling to form a rink. The garden hose would come out and Dad would flood our private rink. Of course it wouldn’t be ready until the next day but by then the water froze solid to form a smooth sheet of ice. Mom and Dad both would help us lace up our skates and we would attempt to become the graceful skaters they wanted us to be. It never happened. We fell more than stayed upright, our legs betraying us as we landed on our posterior thankful for the padding the extra warm clothes offered.  Dad went through this ritual for us for several years to no avail. We were not going to be star hockey players or figure skaters.