Hi everyone!

I just had to share one of the cool things about skating. I am very much an adult however I have this 10 year old friend at the rink that I practice with. Actually she is 9 and her birthday is in a couple of weeks. Last night I was handed an invitation to her birthday party!

The more I think about that, the cooler it is! For all of my adult friends, when was the last time you were invited to a 10th birthday party because you are friends with the 10 year old! I sure can't remember - I have been related to all of the recent ones.

Of course, my little friend calls me Dee and I find it funny that my invitation is to Dee and our coach's is "Miss J...." - I am 6 years older than our coach! ;-)

Hugs and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Danielle

ps) Yes, the party is at the rink. Her school friends were both excited that it was there and also curious if she could do "stunts" ;-)

Dani, that is lovely, and I'm glad you're such friends with this little girl. One of my closest child skating friends is now 12, and she is terrific friends with our mutual coach's 4-year-old!

And the joy of having skated for some years is watching them grow up - a couple of kids who I first knew as 12-year-olds are now lovely and attractive women of 18, and another baby of six is about to be twelve "in three weeks!"

But for me, the friendships I prize above all others are those I've made internationally. I could - and have - visit the USA and stay with skaters all over the place! I have friends from countries as far apart as Australia and Estonia. A group of us went to watch the Synchro Worlds in Rouen, and while we were sightseeing in the morning - the competition started at 2.00 pm - the caretaker of the Joan of Arc church asked us whether we were English (They don't much like the English, as it was, they say, the English who burnt Joan of Arc!). Anyway, I had to confess I was - but my husband is from Northern Ireland and the other two members of our party were from New Zealand and Canada!

For those of you wondering whether a trip to the Mountain Cup or even the Dune of Flanders Cup is worthwhile, the answer is "Yes!" Quite apart from the skating, the joy is making friends from all over this planet! Skating - well, any sport really - brings people together from all over the globe, transcending all national and political barriers.

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

How sweet. I got to go to a "friends" picnic at school once.

That's wonderful. Have a blast!


I am actually very good friends with a close friends Granddaughter. We just get along great and when she knows I am coming over she tells them, "My friend Jackie is coming over" and it confuses them because they try to think of who of her little friends is named Jackie.
I was friends with another child of a friend and was the only adult invited to her birthday party. Well the little girl knew I was in school at the time so she told her mom " Tell her not feel bad if she can't come, there will be lots of other kids there" :-)

Aren't kids wonderful (at least until they become teenagers ).

I have a number of "little" friends at my Monday night rink. Since it is too far to drive home from work, then back to the rink for the 7:00 pm session, I usually go straight from the office and arrive at the rink about 5:30 pm. This is the time the first of two successive Learn To Skate programs starts.

I've become the "warming room administrator" for parents and kids. Helping select proper rental skate sizes, lacing skates, running for ice packs, giving minor first aid, assisting "new" skaters onto the ice, entertaining younger siblings, and encouraging them all.

It's a blast!!! They all know me and come to me with problems and for help (as do some of the parents).

Enjoy! =-) Embrace the opportunity to be a kid, even if it's in your heart. Friends can be anyone. Friends are not limited by sex, age, etc..... Some of my best friends are NOT even close to my age. Some older, some younger. Seriously, it doesn't matter.

Chico

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"I truly believe, when God created skating, he patted himself on the back."

As a middle school teacher, I have to stick up for the teenagers! I skate at "o'dark-thirty" with them. They are such nice kids. They stop and complement my pathetic jump attempts and I've consoled them when they've "lost" triple flip. We comiserate together about how rotten and mean our coaches are and compare bruises and broken down skates.
As I have no children of my own, I call them "my ice babies' and they seem to think the label is cute. My heart breaks when they are so hard on themselves. I tell them that I wish that they could see themselves through my eyes.
I will miss them when they run off to college in a few years.

Warm Regards,
Kathleen

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Warm Regards,
Kathleen

"It is never too late to become what you might have been."
George Eliot