I just had the first skating lesson after 50 years! Can you believe it?!
That’s how it happened. In Millennium Park, they have free skating lessons every Saturday morning. They start at 8 AM, and I just could not make it to the city that early on Saturday all the previous years. Also, originally they only had “learn to skate” lessons. Now, they also have the “intermediate,” which I needed. However, they are sold out quickly (free, but you need to sign up). I finally managed to catch the session for today. Then I learned that Boris was coming, and I told him I would skip and try to sign for another day. He said I should go, especially because he has a meeting with his students in the morning.
I knew that with the trains running on an unpredictable schedule these days, especially on the weekends, I should leave an hour before the lesson started. I tried, but I also tried to have a nice Saturday breakfast with quiche, and I ended up leaving at 7:05 AM. That was enough to see the train departing, and then I had to wait for almost 20 minutes for the next train.
I was late, and I almost wanted to turn around and go back home, but I didn’t. When I finally got on the ice, the instructor approached me and said that it was fine and please join the class. I realized that one skill I lost entirely was moving backward, and she even worked with me a little bit on that individually. I could practice all other movements, and I think I am getting a hold of moving backward.
It was cold and sunny, and it was so much fun! Unfortunately, all the other slots until the rest of the season are filled (I think they released them all at once), but I will try to practice what I relearned and do more lessons next year.
Hettie's Reflections 