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Let me take you back to when I was a twelve year old girl living in Park City, Utah. (Lucky, wasn't I?) I've always been rather athletically challenged, much preferring to read books cuddled up in my room than out playing soccer or softball...the thought of participation in either sport still makes me shudder inside. So when we moved to Park City, I wasn't exactly first in line to go get my season pass to the local ski resort. I'd sooner eat nails for supper.

There was, however, one thing which required me to move my muscles that I actually excelled at--roller skating. Speed demon on those things and just as agile. Zipping around the neighborhood all summer long. Park City Ski Resort just happened to have an outdoor ice rink and my $100 allotted for my season's ski pass got spent on a season pass there instead.

I started taking lessons. Bought myself some cheapie skates from the sporting goods store. Took $20 dollar private lessons every Saturday, paid for with my babysitting money and was soon working on some spins and jumps but wasn't quite getting it. Until one day, my instructor brought me up a pair of used skates up from the valley. These things were professional. You could just tell. Sturdy, supportive boots, shiny blades. I'd later look up the value of them if they were new--$800. She was going to sell them to me for $100. A steal of a deal!

When I got them on, it was magic. Suddenly those jumps and spins I was struggling to do became effortless. Like a switch was flipped. Perhaps this was the beginning of my belief in good tools for good results? Very possible. My craft room now reflects that philosophy.

At some point, I was told to take them off if I wasn't going to buy them. Oh yeah, no way those babies were coming off my feet. My dad got a call from a pay phone with instructions to withdrawal the required amount out of my savings account when he came to pick me up at 4 o'clock. The skates were mine.

I continued to skate and take lessons for a few winters. Never got any good really. Mastered a few things. Enough to impress anybody if they went skating with me. But ultimately, too afraid of falling. Which is a ridiculous fear if you are trying to become a figure skater.

Life moves on. But I still have those skates. They are in my basement and I occasionally pick them up and smile over them. My name is written inside each boot, 7th grade scrawl in black Sharpie. E. Parsoneault. Just the thought of it makes me smile.

I've actually considered selling them recently. They were barely fitting before my pregnancies. Now? No way am I going to get in them. Seeing as I'd eventually like to shock the heck out of my kids by actually hauling my butt up off the ice in a waltz jump one day,  I'm going to need some good skates that fit. I'm sure they are worth some money and I was thinking I'd turn the dough around into a new semi-professional pair in my new size. But my Mom talked me out of it. Save them for Eliza one day. And so I am. Love those skates. Wasn't hard to twist my arm.

What's the point of this whole ramble? My favorite PTI card of the year using Dawn's On Ice set. The moment I saw the preview, it was like the stamp set was made for me. I have a special connection to it, even if it is one that I've kept mostly to myself up until now. Every time I stamp with it, I remember...and maybe practice my toe loop right in my office. (I still do that from time to time when nobody is watching.)

 

Be sure to leave a comment on Nichole's blog for a chance to win the supplies needed to make this card and all the other design team favorites. This is going to be a killer prize, people. My card alone uses four stamp sets. Multiply that by the number of design team members and it's a nice stash of supplies. You'd be a lucky lady indeed. 

My latest ambition? Getting over my fear of falling. There's a ladies' roller derby league up in Hagerstown. Once I have another baby and get that phase of my life behind me, I think I might join. Been thinking about it for a long time now. Something tells me I'm going to need to get a lot of my frustration out. Just need to come up with the right bad-ass roller derby girl name. I'm sure it will come to me.:)