"Good Times"

My daughter's future memories invoked my old ones:

My oldest daughter, Samantha, turned 8 yesterday. This year she wanted to have a skating party for the occasion, so my wife reserved a birthday party at Roller Dome South (pictured at left). Sam's been to RDS a few times for school parties and such; I hadn't been there since, to the best of my recollection, 1978 or so. That would have made me 14 years old at the time. I really don't recall being a roller skating fan - I think it was more along the lines if "that's where the girls hang out". . .

Walking in tonight, I was still amazed at the familiarity of the place after three decades and the handful of times that I had actually been there back in those days. I'm sure that the walls have been painted different colors and pinball games have morphed into video games, but it was still sort of nostalgic.

While the physical atmosphere seemed little different to my old eyes, the actual atmosphere of the place was quite changed. Although this may just be a generational thing. . . the music was 95% hip-hop or along those lines. As I don't normally hang out at roller rinks, I can't say with any certainty whether or not that is the current trend in such places. When last I had set foot into one, disco was the music du jour and, as skating, much like dancing, is all about what you can groove to, I was likely just the old guy out of his comfortable little pond. Still, I kept waiting for the DJ (Who I later discovered to also be the janitor) to play "Le Freak"!



Sam had a great time, and that's what matters. She was enthralled by my tales of skating in this very same rink so very long ago, in the way that only kids of a certain age can be before they grow old enough to find you boring, old-fashioned, and embarrassing. I'm sure it's a memory I will cherish before long. . .