trial & error

I went ice skating last night and it was glorious. In one hour, I progressed from clutching the side of the rink to actually skating, reasonably fast and relatively steadily.

It’s always like that when I start skating again. Those first two turns around the rink are utterly terrifying and so, so hard. My feet cramp and my legs ache with the tension of balancing. I hate that out-of-control feeling. I even know that the next few times I go I’ll start out that way, heart in my throat and loathe to let go.

But oh—oh! That incredible transformation into something almost graceful.