I am off from work today so I convinced Jeff earlier in the week to take today off as a vacation day and take me ice skating. I've never been before, and he hasn't been since he was in middle school, so we were a little nervous...but I told him we couldn't get married till he took me ice skating, (even though he had intended to take me on the day he proposed in Rockefeller Center, we weren't able to go there). This weird stipulation stems from a joke I made early on when we began dating, when I told him that every boyfriend I'd ever had said they'd take me ice skating and never did...so I was convinced I'd marry the man that took me. So here I was today, at 28 years old, finally putting on a pair of ice skates.
Open skating was from 11-1pm. We got there late and didn't stay long. When we walked in and saw all the people there, I knew my day dream of us laughing and spinning around alone as I learned to skate with him was not going to be a reality, after all, all these kids were out of school for the week, so it was probably even busier than normal. I had to use a stack of five gallon buckets to lean on as I went around the outside of the wall hanging on with all the other small children and a few other inexperienced adults. Anyone I made eye contact with, I felt the need to explain it was my first time. When I stepped off the ice to retie my laces I lost my stack of buckets and my sense of security.
I went around one more time with Jeff without the buckets to prove to myself that I could--but I pretty much clung to the wall that whole way around too. I joked that I was just there for the pictures, to prove that we did it, and to fulfill my silly quota of ice skating before marriage. He had told me he wanted to take me ice skating and propose on the rink in Rockefeller Center--and after today, I'm so glad things worked out the way they did and we had our private moment on a bench looking up at the tree instead. If he had dragged me out on the ice in front of hundreds of people in NYC I would have died--or killed him. We laughed over this fact, and over the fact it is not likely that I will ever be a figure skater.
We decided to cut our time at the rink short and head to lunch at Perecca's instead. It's our favorite Italian eatery from when we used to live in our Schenectady apartment years ago. We followed lunch with a trip to the florist to look at wedding flowers (see the next post), and had a great afternoon of little adventures together.
I am off from work today so I convinced Jeff earlier in the week to take today off as a vacation day and take me ice skating. I've never been before, and he hasn't been since he was in middle school, so we were a little nervous...but I told him we couldn't get married till he took me ice skating, (even though he had intended to take me on the day he proposed in Rockefeller Center, we weren't able to go there). This weird stipulation stems from a joke I made early on when we began dating, when I told him that every boyfriend I'd ever had said they'd take me ice skating and never did...so I was convinced I'd marry the man that took me. So here I was today, at 28 years old, finally putting on a pair of ice skates. Open skating was from 11-1pm. We got there late and didn't stay long. When we walked in and saw all the people there, I knew my day dream of us laughing and spinning around alone as I learned to skate with him was not going to be a reality, after all, all these kids were out of school for the week, so it was probably even busier than normal. I had to use a stack of five gallon buckets to lean on as I went around the outside of the wall hanging on with all the other small children and a few other inexperienced adults. Anyone I made eye contact with, I felt the need to explain it was my first time. When I stepped off the ice to retie my laces I lost my stack of buckets and my sense of security. I went around one more time with Jeff without the buckets to prove to myself that I could--but I pretty much clung to the wall that whole way around too. I joked that I was just there for the pictures, to prove that we did it, and to fulfill my silly quota of ice skating before marriage. He had told me he wanted to take me ice skating and propose on the rink in Rockefeller Center--and after today, I'm so glad things worked out the way they did and we had our private moment on a bench looking up at the tree instead. If he had dragged me out on the ice in front of hundreds of people in NYC I would have died--or killed him. We laughed over this fact, and over the fact it is not likely that I will ever be a figure skater. We decided to cut our time at the rink short and head to lunch at Perecca's instead. It's our favorite Italian eatery from when we used to live in our Schenectady apartment years ago. We followed lunch with a trip to the florist to look at wedding flowers (see the next post), and had a great afternoon of little adventures together. 
Sounds and looks like a wonderful day. A nice memory to start off your lives together. Something to laugh over when times get tough.
ReplyDeletehaha, you can say that again. i'm already laughing at me hugging the buckets and the wall today. the little kids were more fearless that i could ever be! :o)
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