Roller Skating with the Family

Three weeks ago on a Friday aftenoon Lisa called me and asked if I wanted to go roller skating with the family. Seems like ever since her Godfather bought her Bratz Wheelies YaYa has been dying to skate.

My response: He** no. Not after a long day of work, and preferably not at all on a weekend in which I wanted to just vedge.

Naturally we wound up going the next morning.

Growing up our skate rink was Wisconsin Skate University, but they've since shut their doors. Now the same building is occupied by Incredi-Roll and by my memory it still looks 75% the same.

Yes, I did skate. Not quite as well as I did five years ago, on my only previous outing since childhood, but well enough. No pics of me on the floor turned out tho'. Too dark.

There were a spate of miscues to be sure, but let me tell you this: a few minutes into the session I got concerned because I couldn't see LuLu along the wall anywhere. Turns out she was SKATING by herself around the rink - a shuffle step kind of skating - but better than I'd imagined she'd do!

She and I spent a lot of time going around the rink holding hands.

YaYa did well for herself, having had more experience, but by the end she was 'skating' - actually smoothly gliding around the rink like a pro. At the session she was reunited with another girl who failed to land a part in Oliver and attended the conciliatory acting lesson.

Here's a pic of Lisa on the floor - a dark pic, I know, sorry about that. Admittedly she did better than I did (THAT day) but hey, I was so heavy my 350# scale couldn't weigh me.

There's two reasons I put such a large post up about a relatively small (but fun) experience. Well, three - One, AOL was sweet, uploading pics at record speed. Two, I was once again proven wrong and had a great time, and three . .

In large part because of the physical effort I put forth that day (did you know your shins can hurt?), both in skating and in later dismantling a shed for my backyard, I decided on the spur of the moment to begin my diet and exercise program.

Three weeks later I'm still doing pretty well, tho' Thanksgiving was a bit of a free day for me. I try to eat right, and ironically that's not too hard for me. I like things like fish (tuna steak for dinner tonight) and vegetables and my time at weight watchers taught me some strategies for attacking the take-out I'm forced to eat at work.

It's the occasional binge and the activity part that defeats me. But remember, in '06 I lost more than 47 pounds before quitting smoking and gaining all of that and more back. I can't afford the actual Weight Watchers meetings anymore, but I'mgoing to do my best.

I deserve to be thin before the last of my hairfalls out.

Wish me luck.