The Sunbury Ice Rink

The scariest thing I did this week was on Saturday, when we went to the Sunbury Ice Rink and I learned how to ice skate.

The Sunbury Ice Rink is just a twenty minute drive up the river from Susquehanna. The rink is where Susquehanna, Bucknell, and Bloomsburg Universities all play their hockey games. The place is a little tricky to find (we had to stop and ask directions), but it’s worth the search. Altogether admission and skate renting will only set you back $5.

Next to the big fireplace outside the rink, Holly showed me how to lace up my skates. Then she talked me into standing up on those two thin little blades, and she lead me out to the ice.

After much wobbling, slipping, near-falling, and death-gripping of Holly’s hand, I finally started to get the hang of it. Soon I found myself passing the little girl in the pink coat who’d been lapping me all night.

Eventually I lost track of how many times I’d passed her, and ice skating shifted from kind of scary to really fun. I could let go Holly’s hand and move away from the wall. I could go faster. I could watch Kelly skate backwards around the rink or Andrew wildly flapping his arms to regain his balance as he went around the turn. I could enjoy the way my breath came out in little clouds and listen to the local radio station’s eighties after eight that the rink was pumping through the speakers. I could skate.

And I didn’t fall once all night. (I swear!)

Me, braving the ice rink.