Spring break was just here and it got me to thinking about my spring break experience last year. I had decided to have a staycation with my son who was 12 years old at the time. In an attempt to get him out of the house and away from video games, we opted for rollerblading. We found a roller rink a few miles from home and decided to give it a try. The woman behind the desk described it as “the largest roller rink in the state of Georgia.” I, however, was not impressed by this as I am from New York and have occupied many a roller rink during my pre-teen years. It was your typical roller rink from what I could see. It had your run of the mill skate rental area, a concession stand, and some arcade games. What did impress me was the roller rink itself, it was all wood, just like the one I remember skating on when I was a kid. The lighting was just enough to give the floor that halo effect, or it could have been the cataract still present in my right eye. Either way, it brought me back in time.
Now, I’ve taken my son to roller rinks back in our old hometown, but that one was surrounded by other things like rock climbing walls, a huge arcade, go-karts, and a ball pit. Not only that, but the roller rink floor was cement – no thank you! He rented roller blades and I opted for what they called “quads”, I asked for “old school” skates, because to me, that’s what they are. I made it around the rink once due to the skates being completely out of alignment (hence, “old school”) and because the ambiance lighting reflecting off of the beautiful wooden floor was too much for my cataract and newly non-cataract eyes. So, I decided to sit it out and let Noah enjoy the floor beneath him, wind in his hair and ambiance lighting.
This left me to people watch and take in the music they played. To my surprise, the song “Holiday” by Madonna came on followed by “Lucky Star” and later “Jump” by Van Halen. I was instantly transported back in time. I could close my blurry eyes and see florescent colored clothes, feathers hanging off of a clip attached to the girl’s hair, leg warmers, and stonewashed jeans. It was 1985 all over again. The weird thing though was when I opened my eyes I saw a resemblance of what I remembered from 33 years ago. My own son was skating around wearing an “Adidas” t-shirt. Another little girl was wearing a shirt with a colorful ink blot design and a glittery peace sign on the front. The piece DE resistance was a teenage boy wearing what looked to be Levi’s jeans (somewhat tight fitting), a black t-shirt with the sleeves cut off and one of those chains that hang from your wallet into your pants pocket along with a black baseball hat on backward. That was every guy I dated back in the day! Talk about deja vu! As I was re-living my youth I was snapped back into reality by Noah saying he was done as he had fallen twice and his knees were killing him, of course, this was expressed with full on 12-year-old attitude. Needless to say, my trip down memory lane was short-lived, it was back to reality from there. It was fun while it lasted and I have learned my lesson, staycations are not all they are cracked up to be but the nostalgia they can create is definitely worth taking notice of.
