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.

Roller Skating

We have a secret... Since February 2015, Little Lewie has been taking roller skating lessons.  We don't have lessons every Saturday morning, but if I had to venture a guess, we've probably been to 70+ lessons over these past two years.

At age 3, Lewie went roller skating for the very first time.  We were so excited to introduce him to Roller Magic because it was the skate rink that both Lew and I went to as kids.  I had roller skating birthday parties there at ages 9 and 10, and Lew went there faithfully every weekend until he was a teenager.  If there wasn't a five year difference between us, we often joke that our romance would have first started at Roller Magic as kids.

When we took Lewie at 3, we quickly learned he was still too young.  He seemed to like the music, but he was a little scared of all the people on the rink.  I was even scared of all the people on the rink! With lots of bad skaters, sooner or later, someone would get into a collision with us.  We attempted to go back when Lewie turned 4 and again at age 5.

In January 2015 (when Lewie was six), I saw flyers at Roller Magic advertising their Saturday morning skating lessons.  For just $15 per session, Little Lewie could have a private lesson and have the entire rink to himself!  It was a no-brainer; I scheduled our first lesson, and we've been back ever since.

Lewie loves his teacher, Ms. Christine, and he loves the individual lessons.   When he first started, he clutched her hand in fear of falling and moved slower than molasses.  Now, almost two years later, he's skating confidently and slowly learning how to do tricks like "scissors" and skating backwards. He's been taking his time (my son is non-competitive and likes to do everything at his own "slower" pace), but he's learning.  (Pretty soon, I want to go for lessons, too, so I can practice skating backwards.)

I'm still searching for Lewie's first video at roller skating lessons; it's fun to see the progress.  Even when Little Lewie was first born, I often dreamed of an opportunity to take him skating.  Now we're looking forward to many family skate nights (especially in the summer when the rink is a little less crowded)!  We're so glad that good ole Roller Magic is around for another generation.