The End to Private Roller Skating Lessons...

Since February of 2015 (at the age of 6), Lewie took roller skating lessons on Saturday mornings at Roller Magic.  In the beginning, lessons were every week, and Lewie started very slowly--barely moving his feet--right foot, then left foot.  In fact, the first few lessons were spent trying to help him coordinate his balance and learning how to get leg strength, so he could actually push and glide, rather than shuffle his feet.

Lewie taking his first lesson in 2015 at age six.

Over time (three years to be exact), Lewie learned how to do scissors and crossovers.  He could skate forwards while squatting and skate backwards.  He wasn't training to be a speed skater or to win some sort of dance routine.  The goal was to simply get him feeling comfortable on skates and to help him learn a few tricks in case he ever wanted to impress his friends (or we wanted to impress our friends).

When he started at six years-old, I never could have predicted how long this "era" would last.  Maybe it would last one year or maybe it would last ten.  From the start, Lewie loved his skate instructor, Ms. Christine, and his lessons became a combination of skate instruction and socializing.  (She was willing to listen to his Minecraft rantings, and so a friendship was born!)  Over time, Lewie talked to her about other things involving school, Cub Scouts, teachers, and friends, too.

Little Lewie and Ms. Christine at his last skate lesson.

When Ms. Christine notified us that she would not be giving private lessons beyond April, our hearts sank.  We had gotten used to our Saturday morning routine, and Lewie loved having the skating rink all to himself.  While sitting in the empty rink, watching him learn new tricks, I couldn't help feeling nostalgic every week.  Roller Magic is the same roller rink I went to during my childhood and high school years.  It was the place where I had my ten year birthday party, the place of my first real kiss, and later, the place where I had one of my first dates with my husband-to-be.

Thankfully, Roller Magic is going strong and not poised to close anytime soon.  While private lessons may have ended, we still have the chance to go to skate sessions, celebrate birthday parties, and even do fundraisers.  (We did one for the Cub Scouts back in March.)  I did place our name on a list should anyone else decide to offer lessons, but in the meantime, I'm sure we'll have no problem finding other Saturday morning activities.  Maybe Ms. Christine will come back some day; we'll wait for the next opportunity.

Our last skate session. Our sadness made it a low energy day.