Chris and Christine’s Birthday Party: Fleetwood Roller Rink, Summit, IL

Last Sunday, Chris and Christine had a joint birthday party and inviting friends to join them at Fleetwood Skating Rink.

I remember going to roller skating parties as a kid, but I never really learned how to skate. Maybe I just avoided it entirely, as I have more memories of hanging out in the video arcade sections vs. actually roller skating. Walking inside, and seeing everyone whizzing around on the rink… I felt more than a little nervous.

Though I brought my camera, the bulk of the images I took were from my phone. I had my skates on the entire time, but my camera was always far away whenever I wanted to snap a photo. And it would have taken me a loooong time to make my way over to where it was… so I opted for the quick phone pic instead.

A lot of the partygoers joined in for a group session. I was pretty adamant about not going out at this point, as I could barely stand up in my skates (let alone do all the crazy cross your legs, backwards stuff that was happening).

Chantelle, skating backwards and whizzing by in a blur.

Yours truly.

The entire time I was out on the rink, I was clutching Liz‘s hand with a vise grip. I was convinced that I’d wobble a little too far and fall down.

Actually, I had a pretty specific, visualized worst-case-scenario: I’d get my legs pointed in two directions, and the wheels would slowly pull me into doing the splits. I’d tear some groin muscles as I fell backwards, knocking my head on the ground, passing out from the concussion… and wetting my pants as I was unconscious. And at that point, the announcer would stop the music and call for someone to bring a mop onto the floor.

Thankfully, that never happened.

Instead, I circled around (very slowly) with Liz. I think I made it around the rink 4 or 5 times in total. And at the very end, I made it once all around without holding onto her at all (though I kept very close to the walls).

Aaand, thanks to Liz for this closeup shot of me clutching the rails.

Though it’s not something I’ve done in a very long time, it was interesting throwing on a pair of roller skates. It went from stressful to a bit more fun, though it took me a while to get there.

It was good to see a lot of folks, and fun to watch how easily many people were with rollerskating. Fleetwood is a cool little spot.

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Birthday, on Ice