Ice Skating on Frozen Pond

Emerson asked three times if we could go ice skating. I finally replied that after he finished math, the rest of school and I had graded his test, we could go. I wondered when the last time was that we went ice skating. We came to the conclusion that it was winter 2003-04 when we last had several consecutive below-freezing nights for the pond to become solid. We came close many times, but warm days between colder ones would halt the freezing process. As warm as this winter has been--until this week--it's hard to believe the pond is a block of ice. It's like someone pressed a button last weekend and its 'instant winter.' By the looks of the skates that Emerson retrieved from the barn, the boys' feet were much smaller then. Emerson's feet have grown into wearing my size 6 skates and I resorted to wearing the size 8 pair that Spencer previously wore and could not squeeze into today.

We got ready to go. With Jack in tow (he still needed to be on a rope after his injuries over a week ago) and Sweet Pea tagging along, we headed down to the pond. It had a had thin layer of dusty snow left from Sunday night skimming the surface, but it was otherwise smooth and welcoming. Winter doesn't feel quite right to me if I don't go ice skating at least once. Emerson was obviously excited and I'll admit that I was, too.

We tied Jack to a nearby tree. Emerson and I changed from our winter boots into our skates. I shoved a sock into the toe of each of my skates to make them fit better, but quickly learned that my foot wouldn't fit, so I wore the extra sock instead. We were ready but Sweet Pea had beaten us to it. We went down the edge of the pond to step onto the ice. Push, glide…push, glide…push, glide...fall (Emerson - I lucked out). Do it again. Emerson had clearly improved simply by being older and was quickly zipping around the pond. We went around several times holding hands. We twirled. Emerson sat down and made two snow angels. I skated backwards for a while and showed Emerson how to push, glide backwards. We went skated together some more. We explored the ducks frozen straw bale home on the far end. We peered into the PVC pipe that regulates the flow of the pond, noting that 2 1/2 feet below the surface it was cracked. I recalled how to 'Shoot the Duck' and told Emerson how to crouch down while gliding and stick one leg out in front. He could do it; I gave a pathetic attempt and fell over. I remembered that when I did that the first time, I was just a year older than Emerson is now. I recalled how when I was even younger, my family lived in Mt. Clemens, Michigan and we went ice skating on a nearby frozen river (or was it a lake?).

We got tired and left the pond. When we got back inside the house, I made hot cocoa with snowman marshmallows. I bought two bags after Christmas and wished I'd bought more. We cooked up an idea to have a couple friends over for an ice skating party, I hope they can come.