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Refections When I skated on frozen ponds, the twigs leaves and embedded in the ice would always trip me. by Katie Butler Johnson Thank goodness there were neither cell phone cameras to capture my ast February, I watched a fgure skating sprawls nor Facebook competition. It wasn’t in Sochi. It was at the posts to send them LStarcenter Ice Skating Rink in Frisco. I’d gone viral. there to support my friend Larri Slippen. I left my skates Larri is one georgeous, energetic, redheaded, fgure behind when I married skating, tap dancing -septuagenarian! my Texan. Mom shipped them to me As the skaters warmed up, I focused on Larri. She had in California after she the poise and movements of a ballerina. She also had and Dad sold the N.Y. us - her very vocal pep squad of friends and family. homestead. Although We waited in the bleachers for our time to cheer. I didn’t use them, I When that time came, three of us moved to the edge of took them along as the rink for a better view. We huddled together under we moved from San a large red cloak. There we were - West Virginian Francisco to Berkeley Bunny, Utah’s Joni, and me the New Yorker - all to Dallas to Austin and rooting for our tap buddy Larri, raised in Tennessee. back to Dallas. Although we’d begun our life adventures in different When the Prestonwood places, accruing diverse life experiences, we’d arrived Ice Rink opened in at the same destination, shared our stories and become 1970, I got out my friends. skates to give them I was six when I frst attempted to ice skate. I wobbled one last try. The foam and fopped like newborn Bambi. I just didn’t get the padding in the tongue had melted into a sticky mess hang of it. from years spent in hot Texas Attics. I scraped most I revisited the sport as a teenager. My Dad encouraged of the gooey stuff off, put on the skates and set out on my effort by gifting me great skates. Great skates the ice for the last time. couldn’t make me a good skater. Well, actually, I did get to go ice-skating one more I did use them at the local indoor ice rinks. To be time. This time it wasn’t just ice-skating; it was fgure honest, what I liked most about skating was not the skating - something I’d never attempted. As Larri actual skating. It was the hot coco and the even hotter glided across that rink, nailed her routine and captured lads that lurked about. that medal, I skated with her - vicariously. In addition to our birth family, we have a second family, a family of friends. Through friends, we can do more things “vicariously” than we could ever ft into our own lifespan. The larger our family of friends, the more of life we get to experience. Larri gave me my fgure skating experience. Now I’m giving her the experience of reading about my experience of her skating! ■ page 4 | www.celebrationmagazine.com