A Great Day

When I was a teenager even though I was very heavy there were still things I loved to do like bike riding and roller skating.  Roller skating epically was a favorite activity of mine and I would skate outside through the neighborhood as well as go to the skating rink with friends quite often.  I was the kid who could skate forward and backward and do some small tricks.  When I turned 18 I moved from my home in Michigan to the south by myself and so I had to go to work and I got very involved in church work down here and didn't have time to go skating anymore.  Not long after I moved I ended up married and had children and started gaining major weight.  As my weight got up into the three hundreds I never even thought anymore about going skating or doing anything sporty like that because I knew that physically I couldn't handle it.  I also felt embarrassed to even think about trying to do anything like that and honestly scared that if I tried and fell that I would seriously hurt myself.

This past weekend was the day to finally let go of that fear.  I took my son and nephews and headed off to the skating rink for the first time in about 20 years!  Going in I was so scared that I was literally shaking so hard that it took a minute to get everyone's skates laced up.  Everyone was ready to skate and as I stood up on my skates all I could do was pray that I didn't fall or get hurt.  But then as I stepped into the rink it all came back to me.  I was out there skating away and I let go of all those fears and worries and just truly enjoyed myself.  I felt like a kid again as I flew round the rink.  We skated for almost two hours and I truly feel as though I could have stayed another two hours.  By the time we were done I was a little sore from using different muscles that I have not used in a long time but the feeling of freedom that I now have in my life is amazing to me.  All the little things that I took for granted for so long when I was younger I now have back and can experience again.  Just that appreciation for the little things like getting to go skating with my kids is a gift in itself.  I am eternally grateful for getting to live life more fully once again.