Friends with Skates

Would you share your roller skate?

Recently thatguyIlivewith and I were moving slowly on a road beside a small private grade school campus.  On one corner sat a beautiful open-air church and on the other a playground.  We were at a stop sign when we saw two girls that appeared to be about 9 or 10 years of age.  They were cute girls.  Both were wearing jeans and their sweaters were normal 10-year-old girl pink and purple and white colors. They were cute and I would have taken an iPhone photo of them through my dirty windshield but thought better of it.  Taking pictures of random minors, regardless of how cute they are, seems inappropriate in 2021.  Though I don’t have the photo I hope I never forget what I saw those two girls doing.  They were sharing.

Ladies of the 80's skating back in time. Fall 2020

Throughout my life I have been told to share the candy, share the couch, and share the tv. I have been told to share the blame, share the credit, and share the responsibility. I have had to share access and availability to a washing machine and a pay phone as I got older. But not once was I ever asked to give up one of my skates. 

It appeared that one of the girls had a pair of white roller skates.  The cute ones.  Not like the pair for rent at the skating rink.  They had pink bubblegum wheels and pink sparkling laces.  I could not tell who the skates belonged to because each girl was wearing one skate.  The girl in the front had a tennis shoe in her left hand and one on her left foot with a white skate on her right foot.  The other girl was holding onto her friend’s forearm and had a blue tennis shoe in her left hand.  She had a skate on her left foot and the other blue shoe on her right foot.  They were like a three-legged sack race on pink wheels.  And they giggled.   I couldn’t hear them but I could see it on their faces. They stumble skated the sloped pavement just off the curb and we watched as they crossed the street in front of us.  

It’s not likely anyone told this girl to share her skate.  That is what made it awesome. That is what made us stop and watch them like white van creepers. They were sharing so much more than a skate.   It was inspiring and hopefully contagious. 

I decline to draw conclusions on this. I just want to challenge you and me to find a place in our minds to see these two girls as a pink and purple rolling inspiration to give, laugh and continue down the road, and to not focus on only having one skate but celebrate having that special friend that will share her wheels with you.