We been seein' the signs, mom getting into the "racing squat" that her
coach described as "Just imagine you are sitting on the toilet reading
the paper" because your weight is on your heels, quads parallel to the
ice, hands forward, unless they are behind your back in the early stages
of a long training session or race.
No, she hasn't pulled the skates out, the helmet, the skin suit (like it
gonna FIT?! WAH, HA!) But when she thinks we ain't looking we
see her skating in her mind, getting in the ZONE, becoming "one"
with the ice inside...
"They have walkers you can take on the ice, like, for beginners,"
she says. We know she wouldn't use one. She'll just skate low so
less distance to fall down knowing only one bad fall is all it would take...
If the skates come out, we are afraid we will have to eat them.
(Just not the blades - OUCH! those we'll pee on so they rust!)
Her old team starts training in January...we won't let it happen.
But, we wish we could. (Just to see her in that racing suit, but
we would DIE LAUGHING, I SWEAR THE SIGHT O'THAT
WOULD KEEL US, OH-OH, GEEZ, I CAN'T BREATHE...
THAT WOULD BE TOO MUCH!) NOT MUY BONITA!!!!
She says, "You don't know how it feels to become ONE with
the ice, to get into a rhythm where there is no more self, only
the sound of blades and the whoosh of flying, gaining speed
and momentum to turn those corners with grace, beauty, and
CRASH & SLIDE UNCONTROLLABLY UNTIL YOU SMASH
INTO THE BOARDS! (arena walls.)
Happens every fall, this thing. Every time she feels a nip in the air.
Not enough healthy bones left in mom's spine, though, especially her neck...
If we see them skates it will be our moral responsibility to eat them
And Eat Them We Will! Mom, stick with yoga and t'ai chi, where you
got stuff to grab when you fall...or the skates are HISTORY!
Soon the leaves will be falling. But we won't let
her fall with them.
GUESS WE ALL MISS BEING WELL...I DID TODAY. MY SPINE
IS FUSING AND ALL I WANNA DO IS HAVE SOME FUN HUMPING
MY NEW LOVE, MILLIE BEA, KNOWING I NOT THE STUD I ONCE
WAS, BUT I CAN STILL DAZZLE HER!
The one constant is change. Rain into snow. Oceans into Clouds.
Clouds into rain...DANCE IN THE RAIN! DO IT TO REMEMBER
HOW IT FEELS TO SIMPLY BE ALIVE. DO IT FOR THOSE WHO
CANNOT REMEMBER...DO IT FOR THOSE STRUGGLING FOR
THEIR LIVES, JUST DANCE IN THE RAIN.
AND IF YOU LIVE IN TEXAS, DO A RAIN DANCE, WE WISH YOU WELL.
