10 years later, I was working in the Mall of America at Air Traffic Kites and Games in Minnesota. On summer day I start thinking about skating and remembered that I never successfully dropped into a half pipe. By the end of the day I had purchased a fresh pair of Rollerblade skates and was heading to Minneapolis’s skate park. Despite being out of shape, I was actually doing pretty well. Able to pick up speed quickly and having a blast on launch ramps and quarter pipes, but I was there on a mission. All of the park’s half pipes were getting use, but the park’s bowl lay dormant for some reason. So I pulled up to the lip, committed to the drop, and leaned forward. It was a blast, and so freaking easy. I had complete control and tons of speed as I pumped through the bowl’s curves. I finally came to rest in the bottom of the bowl, totally psyched to have finally dropped in after giving up 10 years ago. Tired and ready to call it a day I tried to get out, but couldn’t. My legs had not yet gotten strong enough to really start skating well again, and the bowl’s walls were very steep.
I was 24, wearing a brand new pair of rollerblades, and stuck in the bottom of a 12 foot pool at a skatepark.
After about ten minutes of trying to get out a couple kids had started lining up, asking me to get out so they could skate some. Finally one of the park’s employees came by to help pull me out. It was both the highest point and lowest point of my skating hobby, but despite the embarrassment of being pulled out of a bowl in front of a bunch of kids, I did keep skating for a few years. Eventually dropping in and back out of the park’s many half pipes and bowls.
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