Memories . . . of the way we were

One of my favorite memories as a kid was ice skating in the winter. Where I come from, you can't go three blocks without seeing an outdoor rink. Figure Skating and Hockey are just a part of life. My family was no different. My dad grew up near an outdoor rink, and my Grandmother used to tell me stories of how my dad was hardly ever home during the winter season because when he came home from school, he would immediately go over to the rink and be there until night fall. All that time out on the ice paid off when he eventually played hockey for The University of North Dakota (Go Sioux!). When he finished college, he made hockey his career and coached for over 30 years. He taught all of us kids how to skate at a young age and we all continued to skate recreationally and competitively for many years to come.

Carl, on the other hand, comes from a basketball community. Argyle has an outdoor rink, but they do not have a High School Hockey team. However, when Carl was young, he adored hockey! He loved skating and followed Sioux Hockey pretty closely. He often tells me that if he would have had an opportunity to play hockey, he would have loved to.

Let's rewind the clocks back about 10 years. Carl and I were dating, and were visiting Carl's parents in Argyle. It was a cold Spring, and the community had a late freeze. While visiting out at the farm, we decided to take advantage of the frozen coolie, and showed off some of our mad skating skills.

As you can see, Carl is quite graceful out on the ice. I don't know about his hockey skills, but he's got the Figure Skating thing down pat!