Blast from the past.....

When I was about 7 years old my parents started taking me and my sister Roller Skating as a family night out event. It didn't take long before I really started to take a liking to this sport. I started beginners classes on Saturday mornings, then moved on up the ladder over the next year or so. I enjoyed skating so much that my parents put me into private lessons. I made so many new friends and found it hard to not be at the skating rink most days. I would rather have been practicing than going to school and on the weekends I either looked forward to competition or more time at the skating rink with my friends. I loved all the places we traveled and how much my family grew together during that time. I don't think we would be as close as we are today if it wasn't for our skating days.

As I just began my skating days at Wooster Skateland (the old old one that used to be on Rt 3 in the current carpet place) I met so many great people. One of those people and families were the Shadels. Amanda and I became close friends and my fondest memories of skating are spending time with her. Our families would travel together, eat meals together, get our hair done together (oh those painful early mornings), root for each other, etc. We felt like family. Even after Amanda switches coaches we still remained great friends.

I still remember the day Amanda told me she was switching coaches. We were in my parents van and I was devastated to hear that we wouldn't be practicing together. But I knew that we would always remain friends and that I would have her support and she would have mine. We still saw each other occasionally at a practice in Elyria and at competitions. We went through a lot together. Even prior to all of this I remember the first time in my life that I was afraid of losing someone was when Amanda had her accident and had surgery. I remember coming to her house to visit and I was just so glad that she was ok. She had a long tough road but she made it and she was able to skate again.

But these times never last forever. We all grew up, stopped skating and drifted apart. However, due to the Internet and the famous myspace, we found each other again. We began chatting and catching up and I even ran into her sister Bri at college one day. (so random) Amanda was living in Arizona and was getting married soon. Shortly after coming back from their honeymoon she posted a blog about being pregnant. Then came along Brynn and I am stunned at how quickly things change in our lives.

Just this past Friday (12/28) I was able to reunite with the Shadel family after many years apart! It was incredible to see them all! I didn't realize how much I missed this family! It brought back so many memories. We are all grown up now, some with families of their own, new husbands, some going to graduate school (congrats bri) and many more things. But it doesn't take much to slip back into the days when we were young and skating was our life. Amanda, Bri, Sally and Don it was so great to see you all!! I hope it doesn't take this long for us to see one another again!

Oh, so I really wanted to post a ton of pictures from our skating days but my parents have all the skating photos and I haven't had a chance to get to there place to search through them but I do have a couple here at my place that I wanted to share. I will be sure to add more when I get to my parents house! One is a collage of buttons from way back when. The middle button has my sister, Amanda and me in it. The other picture I am posting is from our visit last Friday when Amanda was home for the holidays! What a great picture of all of us!