"Crazy on You" - Heart
I didn’t know there was going to be ice skating.
For the third time in five years, my wife, daughter and I went to the Olympic Peninsula for Thanksgiving. It felt good that our new family was creating our own traditions.
When we got to town we noticed a little Christmas village. I’m normally not a fan of Christmas stuff, but there was an ice skating rink. There was no way I was going ice skating, but my daughter found it exciting and I found her excitement exciting.
My daughter ice skated twice before which meant she had already done it more times than me. I know very few things, but I know what is fun for me. People are always trying to get me to do things I don’t want to do. I’m sure ice skating could be fun, but any thrill I might get would be overshadowed by images of me twisting my ankle, fracturing my skull, or hyperextending my knee. I was confident that any scene that started with me putting on skates would end with blood on the ice.
My daughter is a little sad that I don’t want to go ice skating. She likes the family to stay together, especially when she is trying new things. It’s a bit of a tightrope walk explaining why I don’t want to skate without passing my own fears onto her.
She accepts that skating is a her and mom activity and I head over to the snack bar. It has a quaint appearance. Cash only. Everything on the menu from popcorn to hot chocolate was $2.00. I wondered if this pricing system is to help the teens ring up totals and make change, or if it is to be cute. Either way I ordered a cup of coffee and was pleasantly surprised with the taste. Not all coffees are going to be equal and as long as I get what I pay for I’m happy. I’d rather pay $2.00 for a cup that tastes like it is worth $3.00 than pay $6.00 for a coffee that should be $4.00.
With a coffee in my hand I go back to the rink and watch the two most important people in my life go round and round in circles. After they passed, while waiting for them to come around again, I watched the other skaters. It was mostly teens of all types. Nerds. Cool kids with concert tees of bands unknown to me. Kids who look like they could be extras on Breaking Bad. The only thing that they all had in common was how much fun they were having. There was no irony about it. Just hanging with friends and being on the ice with each other.
The music playing was a steady stream of classic rock tunes. The same set of songs that were ubiquitous on the radio when I was a teen. Songs that somehow have become standards that get played over and over again. Songs that I would never play for myself and find a bit annoying when I have to sit through them. Songs that were recorded before I was even born and were so awful kids had to invent punk to counter them.
I don’t know what the skaters thought of the music choice. But, for that time and that place, I really couldn’t think of a better soundtrack.
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