Roller Rink Time Warp

A couple of months ago, I went rollerskating at the roller rink in my hometown. Nothing had changed. It still had the same bathrooms, the same concessions, the same late '80s carpeting, and the same smell. And it was still a pretty popular place to be.

 

My nephews were attending a birthday party at the skating rink, and my husband, Dan, and I drove down to skate with them . . . kind of. 

Our youngest nephew, Benny, made a point of buzzing past me several times. He loved being the fastest; you can see in the picture that he's getting ready to fly off around the rink. So, I didn't really skate with Benny. 

 

Desmond skated about my speed. I hung out with him while Uncle Dan tried to catch up with Benny.

 

 

 

During one of my trips around the rink, the music stopped abruptly, and "Cannonball" started to play. I was wearing my Last Splash shirt, and I wondered for a split second if the teenager in the booth switched the music on purpose. 

 

We were in the midst of a GenX playlist, including some rather deep cuts from Hole, Smashing Pumpkins, and The Beastie Boys, and just like that I was a middle-aged rocker on my roller skates.

 

 

The teenager from the booth found me, commented on my shirt, and we fist bumped. Apparently, he knew who the Breeders were (probably from his parents), and my shirt had, in fact, inspired this burst of GenX musical entertainment. 

Dan, the kid, and I skated a couple of laps and talked music and concerts, Alice in Chains being the only concert he had been to so far in his short life. I wondered, again, if he went with his parents.

 

 

Dan and I didn't meet until after college. When we first started dating, rollerblading was the cool thing to do, and we did that a lot throughout our early years together. 

 

But this was our first time "rollerskating" together at a roller rink, which was THE boyfriend/girlfriend activity when you were twelve and growing up in Twin Falls, Idaho.

 

"You better not be making out in the corner," one of my brother's friends joked.

 

"Have you seen me skate?" I said. "I would totally fall over and not be able to get back up."

 

That's my rollerskating story. Fun times were had by all. However . . . 

 

Everyone at the rink caught COVID (except for me, miraculously).

 

Hello, Super Spreader Event of 2024 . . .

 

For the latest blog updates, visit and "like" Rebecca Turner-Duggan.