From 1940 until 1966, Pasadena was home of the Winter Garden, a vast-seeming, free-standing ice rink that briefly served as location for a live weekly music-and-ice-skating tv show called Frosty Frolics. That was around 1951. I think it must have run a bit longer than the one year, for I remember it, and Your Hit Parade, as family viewing. Frosty Frolics was likely the inspiration, however wrong-minded, for my one attempt at ice skating. Weak ankles, my neighbor and friend Susie Miller declared. That I went on, not too far into the future, to dance en pointe never quite erased the sense of failure brought on by ankles that wobbled. My very first time, yet my inability to achieve instant perfection kept me from trying again, even wanting to try again. I also never learned to ride a bicycle.
There is, I swear, something about emotions that accompany the onset of Christmas that bring up memories, welcome or not. For the moment I trust that these thoughts of, if not humiliation, then certainly not triumph have come to be acknowledged and released. They've been taking up shelf space for far too long. I still wobble, only now I wobble better. I have become the definition of wobbling.
10 comments:
i think that the things that you CAN do, miz marylinn, are so much more fabulous than any of those wobbly activities.
Susan - Thank you. As I have come to believe. Some attributes endure, even burgeon. For which I am grateful beyond words. xo
Now that I've settled into the family home, the memories of past Christmases are filling me with melancholy.
It just never fails, when I come by, you have posted a song that I have been humming. Whether it's John Prine, Van Morrison, Tom Waits, etc... I just yesterday referenced River on my blog, and would have put a link to the U-tube, but don't know how to do that. Anymore than I would be able to skate away on that river if I had one.
I was a wobbler too...even on rollerskates, and was never good at sports. My first and last attempt at ice skating, resulted in a broken ankle. This was in 1957. At age 40 when my kids convinced me you never forget how to ride a bike, I rode one of theirs down the driveway, and wrecked in a heap. My wobbly self fell down the stairs a few years ago and broke my ankle again. My balance at yoga is questionable at best, leaving me to wonder if I should give up, but I probably won't. I can laugh when my kid still sings the Weebles wobble but they don't fall down ditty.
My creative attributes, even tho they ebb and flow, do endure into this old age. Thanks for the reminder. It is what it is.
You are a very talented lady and are admired for all the things that you can do and do very well.
I'm now wondering what song you are going to post next that resonates. Maybe it's that we both have such excellent taste in music.
Regards, from a life long wobbler.
This song came on the radio the other day in the car, and my sixteen year old listened and said, "I like that song," and I felt so happy!
Kass - I find it difficult, or, more accurately, impossible not to be at least slightly haunted by Christmas memories. It seems to give us a not entirely welcome way to measure how much is changed or gone. Being in your family home would certainly intensify that. And it's winter, when our thoughts automatically turn inward. Even in melancholy, though, there is the aspect of time travel, the reliving of moments not truly lost. This morning I was remembering my mother's divinity fudge. More than 60 years later, I would know it the minute it touched my tongue. Wishing you warmth and light. xo
Barbara - There are two choices here: great minds thinking alike or, as my South African-born husband used to say, fools seldom differ. In either case, I am so glad to know we have our mental jukeboxes in sync. And with, I believe, great music and musicians. Don't you love those guys? Thank you so much for writing, fellow wobbler. And yes, we do have many skills in which we are wobble-free, steady and sturdy and assured. FYI, yesterday I wanted to listen to Justin Townes Earle's "You Always Look the Other Way." It is really the only song of his I know and I think he is young and still growing into his music (such a legacy) but I like the minor chords. Let's see what we come up with next. Regards to you, xo
Elizabeth - There was never a moment of doubt for me that Henry was no ordinary 16-year-old. I feel happy, too. Anything that affirms reasons for hope about the future. We are in good hands. xo
Thanks so much for this. Love the photos! And your words brought back several ice skating memories of my own...! I, too, have been listening to "River," on this Blue album but also on among the Christmas songs others have recorded. A delight!
Kathleen - Thank you. Aren't they great photos - what did we do before Google Images? Joni seemed a fine match for the text and illustrations. Enjoy your music and your holiday, we'll do the same. xo
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