Texas Lou

A while back, a good friend was poling her friends on facebook about their favorite roller rink songs from back in the day.  She asked me if I was old enough to have experienced the roller rink craze.  My answer:  OF COURSE!!!  And for those wondering, my most memorable roller rink song was Come and Get Your Love by Real McCoy.  I have great memories of skating in circles, trying desperately not to fall, and thinking I was soooo badass to the beat of this song!

The conversation between my friend and I lead me to wonder about those who had not had the opportunity to skate like no one was watching as a kid.  I quickly thought about the city that I currently live in.  Charlottesville doesn’t have a roller rink.  I wondered if they had one in the past.  I quickly dialed Ben’s number to ask him what seemed to me like the most important question (but probably seemed to him like a pointless one).

Ben’s answer was no, Charlottesville had not had a roller rink in his twenty-seven years as a resident.  This saddened me.  All of these Cvillians, and I’m sure countless others hailing from small town, Anywhere, had been deprived of the roller rink experience.  They had no roller rink songs, no memories of skating beneath flashing neon lights to the beat of some one hit wonder while trying to impress their friends.

But then I realized, what they lacked in roller rink experiences, they made up for in other ways.  For example, I never experienced a snow day living in south Texas, but Ben’s childhood was filled with them (especially from the blizzard of ’96 that I hear about so often).

I still hope my kids get to enjoy the roller rink experience someday, or the twenty-first century equivalent.  Hover boarding perhaps?

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