The Rink

 

My favorite December memories always take me to the Rockefeller Center Skating Rink--even though I can't skate for beans. My parents brought my sister and me to the rink--I couldn't have been more than four years old--and all I remember is falling every other minute while trying to skate.

I'd like to say I got better, but I never did. My husband, on the other hand, grew up in Minnesota and is an expert skater (and skier) -- making it doubly embarrassing that I'm such a mess on the ice. Luckily, my husband taught my son how to skate and watching the grace and confidence they both display on the ice does my mom/wife's heart proud.

But back to Rockefeller Center, where I had my first glimpse of skaters, and where I could watch them for for hours. The Rink was supposed to have been inspired by a skate salesman during the Depression who skated on the frozen water of the Rockefeller Center fountain in order to sell his skates. In any case, the rink opened on Christmas day in 1936. It soon became popular, in movies as well as in life.

Watching skaters for me is like watching ballet dancers--the grace, skill and strength that looks so effortless on ice (or one's toes) seems like the most natural thing in the world--until you try it. But knowing that it's possible and that someone can do it has always made me feel just a tiny bit better about the world overall. 

I'm truly grateful my husband could teach my son how to skate (and I got him a few lessons at some point, too). I did that because I can't help but think I might be skating now if I had them when I was a child.

I think my heroine Ruby in The Beat on Ruby's Street loves Rockefeller Center--she's a New Yorker, right? Though I haven't yet brought her there, I imagine she and her best friend Sophie will get there one of these days. The crisp New York air, silly skating music (if I'm remembering right) and the smell of chestnuts from pushcart sellers would all be part of their day.

I was really happy to learn that the Rink will still be open this season, and hopefully lighten some of our pandemic fears and depression. I can't be in New York this winter but if I was, I think it would be the first place I'd go. If you are in New York and want to get there, I guess you need reservations and can learn more about the Rink here. 

Just a little bit of joy in an upside down world. Sometimes that's all we need, right? If you do go, let me know? I'll be thinking of you.

Rockefeller Center Rink photo: -JVL-