The last few days has seen Natty asking to go skating with me, and we finally had our chance yesterday while Sam was at school and my mother was at home with a sleeping baby. We headed out, Natty and I, for his second skate ever, and my first skate since taking Sam for his first skate!
It was a lovely warm day, above zero, and there were only a handful of other skaters. It was my first time to our neighbourhood rink, just a few blocks away. The rink was divided into two, with a section for hockey, so the leisure rink was fairly small as rinks go, but more than big enough for us.
Natty used a red A-frame that was originally meant for Sam – Ben assembled it last year (amidst much cussing) – but Ben’s not keen on skating, and I was pregnant, feeling fatigued and cautious, and so Sam never ended up using the frame last year.
So it made its debut with Natty, who managed well on it (in Sam’s helmet, no less), and could push it around a bit, although he preferred to dramatically slump over it with his shoulders. When I first tried to push him forward on it, the little frame separated and I crashed along with Nat on the ice, to the gasps of nearby skaters. But we learned that lesson quickly, got the hang of it, and I could move Natty forward quite easily after that, and he got to do some gliding, as well as the requisite acquainting with the ice.
Did you know that it is perfectly possible to make snow angels on the ice? Natty told me so.
And because shortly after our arrival at the rink, Natty and I found that we had the entire space to ourselves, I took the opportunity to lie down on the ice myself, make an ice angel of my own, and gaze up at what Natty was seeing.
And similarly to look down at what he was seeing too…
While it was nice and neighbourly to chat with the other skaters at the beginning, I was quietly thrilled to discover our solitude on the ice. It added even more richesse to what already felt luxurious – in addition to the time, in the middle of the day, with just one child, to mess around on skates, just for fun, now we also had the freedom to walk, glide, roll or loll about on the ice as we pleased without risk of disturbing anyone. Everything slowed right down.
We were not out for much more than an hour, but the sense of space it gave lasted much longer than that. I don’t entirely understand why moments like these can be so evasive, but I just have to try harder to create and notice them.
I do believe that Natty enjoyed himself. Even though he told me while skating that he would like to go to gymnastics. However, the next day, at gymnastics, he told me that he would like to go skating. So he’s probably just messing with me as usual.
Natty’s been keeping fairly close to my side these days, and it was so good to have some time with him, just the two of us. We walked, hand in hand, mostly in silence after our skate, and the company could not have been finer.
