Why I'm skating

I didn't just decide to skateboard, like it would be some fun thing to do and I should try it. I don't think I put a lot of thought into it at all. Bill bought me a gift-certificate to Arbor, a skateboarding store at exhibitions this year. He told me that the store sold clothes too, so if I wanted to, I could just use my gift-certificate there. I think he told me I could do that if I was a sissy, but no matter, I don't think I would have gone that route, no matter what.

It's important to note here, that just a week before exhibitions I had been released from the hospital. I'd been in the hospital for an intestinal infection that was bad enough I had been ill for week sand in the hospital for five days. I'd never been in the hospital before and it was a big deal to me. It was one of the most frightening experiences I'd had in my life, even though I knew that I was going to get better. But I think the stay in the hospital made it clear to me that I was not invincible, that life is short and that frankly my priorities are screwed up.

I know how cliche and trite all of that sounds, but I felt all of those things really strongly for the first few days I was home from the hospital. Even though I started to become me again as I got better, I was still very aware that I wanted to approach life differently. So when Bill gave me the gift certificate, it made perfect sense to me. Despite the fact that I'm a 34 year old woman. That I've never skated before (except when I was very young and would ride my big brother's skateboard around the driveway.) Despite the fact that I generally don't like things with wheels.

My friends almost all told me I was crazy, some in nicer ways than others. At first, that annoyed me. I did soon realize that the people who were worried about me getting hurt had some basis for their concerns. I have gotten scraped up a bit.

The fact is doing something physical that's totally out of the norm is liberating. yeah, people look at me like I'm insane. But the only people I know who skateboard have all been super supportive and have all given me tips and lessons on skateboarding.

Besides all of that, I'm having fun. I wouldn't keep doing it if I weren't. I love the challenge of learning a little bit that's new everyday. I may never do a skating trick (although, who knows?) but the journey is fun.