Listen...I grew up in Alabama. I know my limitations. I know almost everything about the history of SEC football, I can hunt, I do like Budweiser, I played baseball with limited success....I grew up with warm weather, water skiing and yes...I like Lyndard Skynard.
So what the hell am I doing on a pair of ice skates? Elizabeth gave them to me for my birthday in November. At the time, I said "thank you" but I really meant, "huh?"
I held them up like a stinky diaper...thinking "what am I supposed to do with these?" Then William reminded me how useful an ice skate can be if you are say...stranded on a desert island in the south Pacific (the mind of a child is truly amazing). Yes...this is true, you never know when you will need to crack open a coconut or rid yourself of a worrisome tooth....so I kept the skates.
Over the following weeks, I could have sworn the skates were looking at me...teasing me, "aren't you man enough to put us on and glide around the ice on us?" I sneered at the skates and out loud told them if they knew what was good for them, they would keep quiet lest they end up being "accidentally" thrown in the trash.
But as the weeks went by and William got better and better on his own ice skating I decided to try. In my mind I was thinking about how I was going to type at work with a broken wrist OR how the doctors were going to laugh at the "Dude from Alabama that was ice skating and almost broke his neck!"
But I gave it a shot and after a few shaky laps around the rink (pitch) I let go of the rail and sailed out onto the ice. Epiphany...ice skating is pretty fun.
Today we actually went onto a frozen lake with the kids and had a blast. William, mom and me were skating and Davis was being pulled in his sled. What a neat experience and I learned you are never too old to learn a new trick and also...yes, dudes from Alabama can INDEED ice skate.
PS - One has to wonder how many people from the deep south have been making laps on a frozen pond in Stockholm, Sweden? Probably about as many as Swedes who can quote the lyrics to "Country boy can survive."
