AKA + ice skating = funny stuff!!

Just so you know, when I write "AKA", it stands for Above Knee Amputee - in case you couldn't figure that out!

This was awhile ago, but as usual, I'm lucky I'm even getting to it now! Ha! My 6 year old earned a fun day along  with the rest of her Girl Scout trip.  The leaders decided to have a skating party. How perfect! I'm mildly embarrassed to admit that I have lived in Minnesota my entire life and have never been skating.  I even lived 2 blocks from a rink growing up.  But we could not afford skates, so I would watch from afar in wonderment of how they did that.  I learned something else about the person I've spent the last 8+ years with - he had never been skating either.  And he's lived here a lot long than me - hehe!!   We have both always wanted to go (which we also did not know about  each other) and I had always thought itd be really fun to take the kids too.  So this day was a perfect opportunity for us - plus it was free thanks to the troop! Yay!

I was super nervous, but I decided a long time ago that I would not be one of the people who say "I can't" just because of the leg.  Now obviously there are things I cant do with this particular leg, but that even rarely stops me from at least trying.  So of course skating was no different.  I put the skate on my prosthetic first.  I was ready to throw in the towel at that point as I knew that the height was different than my tennis (which is what the leg is set to so I am able to walk properly) but I had miah lace up the boot anyway.  I stood up on my own and was actually able to do so quite easily.  I took a few steps around just on the rubber flooring.  And that too seemed perfectly safe.   So I cautiously made my way to the ice. 

Miah and Emma were already out there, so I had the four and three year olds.  Who were excited, scared and nervous.  All at varying degrees, all at different times.  We all went out to the ice and it was a disaster.  But a quick one.  Miah grabbed O and N slipped and slid all over - quickly loving every minute of it.  He quickly adjusted and even though couldn't stay on his feet alone (they had PVC "walkers" that would allow the kids to "skate" with out an adult).  O and Miah hung out by the wall for safety :)

With one hand on the wall I put one skate on the ice with one skate still on the rubber.  But that didn't go well as the ice foot quickly took off without the rest of me.  Without giving it much thought, I quickly placed the other foot on the ice, firmly under me.  I was holding onto the wall for dear life, but that is quite a taxing task as there is really nothing to hold on to there!  Both skates started going in opposite directions as I struggled with all my might to get the prosthetic to pull back so  I could lock the knee.  The harder I contracted my thigh muscle to pull back, the farther my sound foot pushed back.  An image of my in a mess on the ice in front of everyone with my legs all in disarray after a near splits gone bad moment  flashed in front of my eyes.  I quickly made my way back to the rubber and called it a day.  :)

I put my tennis back on and went to the ice to do something else I loved - snap amazing pictures of my babies smiling faces.  And I got some great shots of other families there too.  So I cant ice skate just yet (I plan on talking to my prosthetic guy to see if there is an easy fix I can try to make it possible) but I was enjoying the day just as much as the kids because these are the days I fought so hard for.  These are the days that I sacrificed everything for a year of precious time with my babies for.   These are the days all right! God sure is good!  :)