Roller Skating

Girl wearing roller skates, 1921

I went roller skating once for an elementary school classmate's birthday party. I didn't own skates myself and had never even tried skating before, so I went early and practiced a bit on rental skates with my dad. I wasn't exactly a natural, but by the end of the evening I was pleased that I could skate a few feet in a straight line without hugging the rink's wall.

Even though I wasn't very good at roller skating, that didn't stop me from coveting the various shoe/skate combos that became popular with kids my age in the early 2000's. There were the Skechers kind with four giant, neon wheels stuck underneath a sneaker, and then there were the Heelys kind with little wheels hidden into the heel of the shoe. I never wound up getting either kind, which was probably for the best, considering my lack of skill at skating and my general klutziness!