A Cold Day in...Well, You Know Where.

Yesterday afternoon I took the girls Ice Skating at a local ice skating center. That phrase sounds innocuous enough, except for one thing. I haven’t been inside that Center for a little over a year; since August 25th, 2006 to be exact.

On August 25th 2006 my best friend and I went to the skating rink with our kids because we’re homeschoolers and we can. (Seriously, there’s gotta be some perks to all this hard work). And in TX in Aug, the Ice Skating Center is about the only place you can feel cool, unless you want to drive to Canada, or crawl into your freezer.

There were 9 kids there altogether and 2 adults. Me and my friend, heretofore known as S (Tonya you don’t even have to read any further as I KNOW you know this story! :o) her 3 kids and 2 nieces and my 4 kids. S is braver than I, and actually put on ice skates to get some exercise. The next thing I know she is on the ground whispering “help me”. I thought she was kidding because really she was whispering.

Turns out, she told me later, she thought she was screaming. My friend had broken her ankle. There was only one man on the rink that was not part of our party and he skated over to help. Somehow a lady who works there appeared too and the three of us got her off the ice. The kids were all standing around doe eyed and scared.

This is where things get ugly for me. Turns out I’m not really the best person to have around in an emergency. I didn’t know what to do. S was obviously in extreme pain and the man and lady were trying to help her and get some info from her. I got all the kids away from the scene and did the only thing I could think of…called her husband, C. (I find this works best in my own life. Are things are out of control? Don’t know what to do? Confused? Call your husband!) C thought I was joking until he heard the tone in my voice, I think he detected a slight bit of utter panic. C works nearby and was there in minutes to help.

I’m sorry to say it got even worse for me (remember who’s blog this is, I know it was S who broke her ankle but this is my blog, if she wants to be the star of her story she needs to get her own blog :o) S’s keys had disappeared. Her son was looking high and low, I was looking high and low and no one could find them. C had to lay S out on the pavement in the parking lot because he could not unlock the car because he didn’t have the keys, they were in her purse…on my shoulder…back in the rink. I do believe C gave me some serious stink eye when he finally found me as I was frantically searching the rink area for the keys that were in a bag on my shoulder.

When they finally got to the dr. they found out she had really broken her ankle and ultimately, 2 surgeries and several screws and a few plates were required to fix it.

Because S is brave and I’m a baby, S has been back into the center. I have not.

Yesterday was my big day. S and I met at the rink for her daughter’s birthday party. I went. I even let my kids skate. I did not throw up and the world did not come to a screeching halt. I did not, however, skate, and neither did S. I think some things are just unreachable. These feet will never don ice skates again.

Here are some photos of my kids skating, with their little rubber bones that don’t break. A & T spent much of their time like this, and I died a little bit every time they hit the ice, and then revived every time they giggled instead of whispering “help me”.