Skating party brings back fond memories

September is now upon us, and another school year is in full swing. And with that has come the inevitable return of birthday party season.

There aren't a whole lot of birthday parties over the summer. I guess it's too hard to adequately distribute invitations without the central distribution point that the elementary school classroom offers.

On Sunday, my 7-year-old son Drew was invited to Skateland for the birthday party of his buddy, Ethan. Ever the fan of the skating rink, my daughter Katie, 10, decided to come along as well. And so it was that I spent my Sunday afternoon at the skating rink. Though the crowd of second-graders on hand had to have been well above the legal limit, everyone seemed to have a good time.

My skating days are well behind me, so I was content to take on the role of spectator. And as I watched, I got to thinking about similar events from my own childhood.

In the early 1980s, the annual family skate night was arguably the pinnacle of the social calendar for the students of Cleveland Elementary School. The skating rink would be packed for the night. There would be a long line to get in, a long line to get skates, and the rink was always crawling with skaters. We used to have to fight to find a place to store our street shoes, and inevitably, there would be a large crowd gathered at the concession stand, where kids would stand in their skates as they waited for corn dogs and jumbo pretzels.

The local rink featured a hopping video arcade. I'll always remember the year they got a new "Star Wars" game. I waited all night for my chance to play, and I darn near blew up the Death Star on my first try.

We had great fun with the typical skating rink games, like the "four corners" dice game, the "Hokey-Pokey," and the "Limbo" (all of which were enjoyed last Sunday as well). We'd skate to the "YMCA," and grow dizzy watching the specks of light cast by the disco ball sweep across the floor.

I was never a great skater. The annual skate night was usually my one-and-only visit to the rink each year, and I was always pretty much a wall-hugger. Sometimes, by the end of the evening, I'd venture 3, maybe 4 feet away from the sanctuary of the wall, but it was always with great trepidation.

But the high-point of any skate night was the "couples" skate, in which boys and girls would partner up for a few laps around the rink while the latest ballad of the day played on the sound system. The younger kids would be hand and hand, while the older kids would dare to skate facing each other, with one skater (almost always the girl) facing backward. For the elementary school sect, there was no greater consummation of a "relationship" than a couples skate. A couples skate with a pretty girl would be something you'd brag about for the next six months.

The night would end, and we'd change back into our street shoes, always remarking on how weird it felt to be back in shoes that didn't roll. We'd nurse our blisters for days afterward, but always keep the good memories.

When I think back to my elementary school days, the nights of the annual skating parties are among the highlights. So I'm glad to see that my kids are being able to build some of the same kind of memories. It's something worth remembering, when I'm sitting at the rink, stuck in spectator mode. I'm glad Blytheville has a skating rink, and I know Katie and Drew are looking forward to their next skating party.

But now that I'm in father-mode, I must say that if they start doing boy-girl couples skates, we might have to re-think the whole thing.