A reoccurring thought in my head always starts with “What if aliens came down and saw…( ).?” I have a few of these conversation starters for myself (as I like to call them), including “What if I had known this ( ) years ago?” and “Where am I?” The one I like to say to myself when I’m traveling and find myself in a place I’d never thought I’d be, i.e. standing in front of Target in Atlanta, waiting for the hotel van to pick me up, or buying tampons at the liquor store in Mission Beach, San Diego.

I used the aliens one on Sunday when we went skating. We have a standing skating date every Sunday. It centers around the kids, but various family members show up and each week someone else gets the guts to get their skates on again after 10, 20, even 30 years. After Jake (and my ankles) had had enough we went out into the observation area and got ourselves a treat. As I watched the skaters going around, many more teetering and falling than actually skating. I thought of the aliens. What would they think of these strange people who put shiny blades on their feet and then get on the most slippery substance known to man and try and move around on it. Why Why Why? Obviously when you get good enough, it feels fantastic to fly around on the ice. But before that happens, it’s really not that fun. And who thought of this anyway? I bet it was a kid. Now that I think back, when I was learning to skate, I thought it was fun regardless of how many times I fell. At this point in my life, I’m an ok skater…a little bit stiff and afraid to fall. But when I take my husband’s arm and we fly around the rink, it really is like a drug. Another one, for the aliens to ponder, I guess.

p.s. I took the above picture in 2004 at the rink in Victoria Park