Roller Skating

As a child I had the metal skates that clamped on to your shoes with a skate key.  We had a tiled basement floor and spent many hours skating there, or outside on the sidewalks in our neighborhood.  I was in my teens the first time I went to a roller rink with my cosmetology classmates. I fell a few times, but eventually got the hang of it. I think that rink was in Oella, Md and no longer around. Many roller skating rinks have closed.  In my area, we had 2 roller rinks at one time.  One closed years ago and is now a catering hall (Michael's).  The other one is a classic rink with wood floors.  My younger brothers went there to skate, and I used to go a couple of times a year when my kids were in school and in scouts.  I tried roller blades outdoors on the hiking trail, but did not have a very good pair of outdoor skates and falling outdoors seemed much worse than falling indoors at the rink.  Today, my grandson had his birthday party at the roller rink.  I donned my rented skates and gave it a whirl.  Though it has probably been 15 years since I roller skated, I did just fine.  This grandma can still skate!