Another Awkward Penguin On Skates

Originally published on June 11, 2015.

I love rollerskating now. Which surprises me, because when I was eight or so I thought I would abhor rollerskating forever.

You see, I had a very traumatic rollerskating experience when I was eight. The local homeschool group rented the skating rink, and so my family went. I didn’t know how to skate well, so I stayed near the wall. Eventually, the DJ called for a couples skate, and my mom and I started skating around the rink holding hands.

And somehow, I fell and pulled my mom down on top of me… and she landed on my head. *Ouch!*

‘Twas all very traumatic.

So, I didn’t like rollerskating very much. 

I went rollerskating once every year or so for most of my teen years. I was still horrible. I still flocked near the wall.
The wall is safe.
The wall is my friend.
{Except the wall in between corners 3 and 4…. the wall there is just a flat, normal wall without a ledge that you can hold on to. I hate that wall. It is evil. I have fallen there many a time.}

Last summer, the boys that I nanny for begged me to take them skating. Hesitantly, I agreed. I made sure to wear socks the next day and off we went.

And that’s when I started to love rollerskating. The rink was open for two hours in the afternoons, twice a week. And the boys and I would go and skate for the two hours.
It was great. The boys essentially could entertain themselves, and all three of us got excellent exercise.

This past Tuesday the boys and I skated. It was the first time the rink was open with their summer afternoon hours, and so it was essentially empty.

I was glad it wasn’t crowded, because ever since that moment when my mom fell on my head, I’ve been afraid of falling on someone or vice versa. AND I don’t like it when people skate right next to me and skate past me… {not sure why. maybe it scares me when they appear out of nowhere??} So, I like going skating with friends, so long as they stay a little ways away from me.

{Dear Future Boyfriend: I have decided that rollerskating would make a fantastically fun date. But I won’t hold your hand during the couple skate because I can’t skate and multitask. #sorrynotsorry}

As I was skating on Tuesday, I watched the little kids skating around me. Some of them looked awkward {like me} but some of them were really really good. There was one girl who couldn’t be older than 10 who looked like she was a pro. She would skate gracefully with ease. She even bent down and skated on one foot with her other leg extended in front of her… if that makes sense.

… and here I was, awkwardly skating around. I can stay away from the wall now {yay!}, but I still like to stay near my old friend just in case ;)

I decided that I look like a penguin trying to skate. An awkward little penguin. Because, well, my arms kinda would flap every now and then and I haven’t figured out how to glide gracefully yet.

So I’m an awkward penguin on skates. 

I’m sure I look funny… but I don’t really care. I wasn’t trying to impress anyone. {Besides, if the guy I like was there, I would admit to him that I feel like an awkward penguin. And he would reply “Yes, but do penguins have knees?” and throw me into confusion and thus cause me to forget about how funny I look :D }

I fell on Tuesday. Twice. Once was on the carpeted area outside of the rink as I was re-entering the rink once my eldest boy convinced me to play the four corners game. The second time was when I was rounding a corner. I just fell out of the blue! 

I hate falling. It hurts. That’s why I like the wall. But I knew if I stopped skating because I fell, my youngest boy {who sometimes falls} would be more inclined to quit too. And I don’t want him to quit… Thus I refused to quit.

I guess that could apply to life:

When you fall and get hurt you have to keep going with a smile because younger peoples are watching how you respond..? They wanna see if you continue to trust God and keep going…

Something like that. {I’m sure there’s a better rollerskating-Jesus analogy. Do you know one? Leave it in the comments, I’d love to know!}

ANYWHO, I’m going to leave y’all with two things to ponder: 1) When you fall down, how do you respond? and 2) Do penguins have knees?

A note from present-day Kara—

Reading through old blog posts always makes me feel nostalgic. Old posts bring a smile to my face and provide a window to my past.

Old posts are like a time machine to me.

Anywho.

I wanted to share this post with you because, well, unless you were a Joy Because Grace reader 4 years ago, you probably missed my awkward skating story. Secondly, this post deeply resonates with my “I’m getting back to blogging” mid-year resolution.

I don’t want to be afraid to “fall” while blogging. I’m so rusty at blogging since it’s been so long… (and ironically enough I’d also be rusty at skating as I haven’t roller skated since 2015 haha!)

But I don’t want to give up even though it’s hard.

I want to press through and keep going. I want to free myself from that wall and skate around the rink freely. Blogging like I used to. Blogging with a passion that has fizzled. Blogging with heart.

I want to blog for Jesus. I want this blog to bring Him glory. Secondly, I want to blog for you- I want Joy Because Grace to be a place of encouragement and joy for you. Thirdly, I want to blog for myself. I want to find joy in of this hobby of mine.

But none of those things can happen if I quit when it gets hard. 

So I’m going to keep going. Keep trying. And maybe, just maybe, someday soon I’ll be able to skate away from the wall. :)

Posted by Kara Beth & filed under My Life. This post has one comment.