Figure Skating

Like a lot of people, we've been watching some of the Olympics. So far I haven't watched it for hours and hours, even though I've been known to do that in the past. We watched some of the Opening Ceremony Friday night, and we had it on for a bit early yesterday evening.

Hubby made a comment about last night's broadcast being the frou-frou part of the competition. I told him that I liked the frou-frou stuff, that figure skating is my favorite part of the Winter Games. I hope to catch more of it as they do the final competitions. I no longer feel it necessary to watch every moment.

I've always enjoyed the figure skating. My earliest Olympic TV memories are of watching Scott Ethan Allen compete in the 1964 Olympics and then seeing Peggy Fleming in 1968. She was so graceful and elegant – and the commentators kept mentioning that her mother made her skating costumes.

I always figured I had a more active “make believe” life than other kids my age. After all, they all had siblings to keep them company. I had more of a tendency to live in a world of my own making when I was at home. So when the Winter Olympics came around, I could always become a figure skater whenever I chose to. And I always won a medal, whether I was a single skater or part of a figure skating pair.

Pretty lofty imagination for someone who was never able to stand up on roller skates with four wheels. No matter how hard I tried, I never could get the hang of it. We had an annual skating party through high school. After my freshman year, I gave up on it. I did go my senior year, but that was only to take photos for the yearbook.

Not only could I never have stood up on ice skates, I've never in my life been referred to as “graceful” or “elegant”. As a kid, I constantly had scraped elbows and skinned knees. I can trip walking across a smooth floor. I bump into furniture and door jambs as I walk through the house. At District Music Contest one spring, I tripped and fell up the stairs at Chillicothe High School and absolutely shredded my hose. I looked fantastic during the rest of my competition.

I was always such a tomboy, it's kind of amazing that something as girlie as figure skating would catch my attention so much and turn into a lifetime love. Maybe it has something to do with the perfection – the tiny little bodies that are at the same time so incredibly athletic – the perfect hair, the costumes, the perfect makeup, the ability to combine music and athletic movements to tell a story.

Both of our granddaughters take dance lessons. The younger one isn't old enough to be into it a lot, but the older one is in a competition troupe and competes in several different styles of dance. I enjoy watching them, seeing what they are learning and seeing them in all their different costumes. They both love it.

I mentioned to hubby earlier this afternoon that he could do the Biathlon events. He made the point to me that first he would need to learn to cross-country ski. I figured why not – being retired, we have plenty of time for him to use for that! Do you think maybe I've gone back into that make-believe world?