That Was Nice

On Thursday, I ran out of my office like a bat out of hell. Well, that's not true. My boss likes to wait until I'm standing in her doorway, saying "good night" to tell me what she did during her day. This is a daily occurrence and daily it makes me as mad as hell. Every day for seven years. I'm lucky that I have a job. Now repeat twenty times...

I drove to City Ice Pavilion in Long Island City. It's basically an outdoor rink with a cover. I was surprised that it was still open since it's July and the temperatures are once again threatening to be in the upper 90s. But off I went.

I was already hot when I arrived because I keep forgetting that my car has air conditioning. My previous car didn't have heat, so I never tried to use the AC. (Here's a funny story: I was driving my old car from the rink and since it was cold, I turned on the heat. The inside of the car filled with smoke, but I thought it was foggy outside and continued driving. A police car pulled up along side of me and after I opened my window, the cop asked if I was okay. I said sure, I was fine. He asked why my car was filled with smoke. "Smoke?" I said, "I thought it was just foggy outside." I turned off the heat, the smoke cleared, but the heat never worked again.)

Inside the rink was no cooler than the inside of my car. I got there a few minutes late, but warmed up and hit the ice. Including myself, there were five, that's right, five skaters on the ice. It was heaven!! After having to dodge skaters all week, I got to skate with just four other people.

The session began at 7:00 and went until 8:20. At 7:30, two skaters left the ice. At 7:45 another skater left. That left me and another woman. We each basically took an end of the ice and mostly stayed there. Although at various times, we used the whole entire surface. It was great. I jumped, I spun, I did footwork, Moves in the Field... you name it, I did it. Then, at 8:05, the other skater left, leaving me on the ice alone, without the nerves of competition.

I was in heaven. I used that entire ice space. I skated bigger than ever and it felt wonderful.

8:20 came; I would have stayed longer, but hockey skaters wanted their ice, so off I went. However, it was really great to have that much freedom. I had envied people who were able to skate quiet sessions without a lot of small children in their own world, buzzing around. Finally, I had the chance to experience that feeling.

And it was nice.