Magic at the Roller Rink

You’ve heard this before, right? Marriage ain’t easy. 

We say this because it is true.  It just isn’t easy.

Worth it? Yes. Easy? No. The best thing that’s ever happened to me? Absolutely!

There have been times in my marriage that I would relive over and over again.  Times that validate every ooey-gooey feeling I have ever had.  Moments that make me feel like I need to pinch myself as a reminder this is real life.

And there are other times that you wish you could just close your eyes and it would be tomorrow already.  Times you look and search for the two people that said, “I do.”  I mean, even the best marriages are sometimes ugly.

We have been through our fair share of ugly times. Thankfully, those times come and then they go, and I find myself in the middle of a fairy tale all over again.

I had one of those precious real-life fairy tale moments recently.  A few weeks ago we decided to take the kids roller skating.  School was quickly approaching and it was the last weekend we had available before we would be in the full throngs of the school year.  

We often talk about how important it is to do things with the kids…to really be present because our days with all our kids are numbered.  I mean, if they all move out on their 18th birthdays, I could literally count how many Saturdays we have left to go roller skating.  And that is if they even would want to do stuff with us!

We have taken our kids skating before, but I bet we had not put roller skates on since I don’t even know when.  So on this day, Brandon and I both decided we were going to skate with the kids!  We will do everything we can to make every day and every memory count!

Besides making memories with the kids, we realized we are both pretty good skaters.  Turns out you can go 25+ years without skating and you still got it! 

We didn’t get to skate together much at first because our three-year-old was not into roller skating out on the rink.  So I would skate with the big kids while Brandon would sit with Max…then Brandon would skate with the big kids and I would sit with Max.

Finally, I had taken Max to the restroom and when I came back to our table, there was Brandon, and he was SO SWEATY!  I was like, what happened to you???

He told me he had been on the rink with our 12-year-old.  He described how he is just as good at skating now as he was when he was a kid. He had no idea he still had such mad skills!  He told me he was skating fast…he could even gain momentum in the curves…that he had taken Olivia by the hand and they skated fast and faster around the rink.

I don’t know about you, but what a sexy dude!  For real!  I mean, here’s this grown man with plenty he could be doing around the house, or sitting around worrying about stuff, or out doing a hobby…but no…he’s at a roller rink holding hands with our daughter, reliving glory days of his own childhood!

I was pretty taken aback…impressed…enamored….

That’s when it happened….could be the sexiest thing he’s ever said to me.

He looked over and noticed that Olivia was at the table with Max and was taking a break. He looked at me. Stretched out his hand.  Nodded towards the rink, and asked, “You want to go fast?”

Hubba, hubba!!!!

He led me out there.  Showed me some fancy foot work, taught me how to weave in and out of other skaters.  For a moment, I felt like we were 12 years old and the cutest boy at the roller rink just asked me to go out for a couples skate!

Marriage is full of magical moments….your vows on the alter, the birth of your children, special anniversaries, celebrating milestones.  But there’s other magic…sweet, simple, fairy tale magic.

I pray I never tire of the man that planned the sweetest proposal, the man that convinced me we could buy our first house, the man that held our little tiny babies, the man that plays pool with our big kids and gets “hair cuts” from our little kids.  

I pray I always see the magic of the man that pulls me fast around the roller rink!