Deja Vu

I drove a decent bit to a roller skating rink yesterday for Lamb's scout troop event. When I pulled up, I recognized the place. Lamb had been there once before, but not with me--her aunt had taken her there once. It turns out that I had taken Mister there for a classmate's birthday party 7 or 8 years ago. Man, I guess I've been parenting a long time if I've had time to forget places I've been.

The trip there went well enough, with two children and an ex-wife in the car. I kept threatening to "turn the car right around" if there was too much commotion and argument (and for Mister, who wanted exactly that, I explained that his complaints and commotion reset my dial back). I did have to explain to Mary at one point when she appeared really worried that I would turn around that I was just joking around. That may have been a tactical mistake, I admit, after I earned the credibility by pulling my car over to the side of the street early in the trip when Lamb complained about something related to the trip and I offered to end the trip right then and there if she was so unhappy about this event. Yeah, I know, classic dad maneuver.

I didn't realize it, but this was a wider scout thing than just the school troop, and 300 young girl scouts were there. When we walked in the door at the top of the hour amidst a milling crowd of scouts and adults, I recalled that the skate counter was in the back and quickly appreciated that 300 girls scouts would create a line of monumental length and time. So we got there fast, and as we returned to have her mom help Lamb put on on the skates, the line was already snaking down the side of the rink. Close call.

Lamb fell a lot. Her mom and I walked around the rink with her a while, taking turns. Mister semi-sulked in protest at not being allowed to stay at home. Eventually, he opened up his lap top to use it. For some reason, he assumed he could plug it in and was worried about using it on battery power alone. That's why it has batteries, I tried to explain logically. Why have batteries at all if you are only going to plug it in? Eventually he got over it. Or he may have just been in protest mode over going to a young girl event where they actually played Justin Beiber for the skate. I share his shudders of horror on this one.

We also bugged out a bit early to avoid the return line.

On the way back, despite the skeptical responses I got, I did threaten to "turn this car right around" and go back to the rink a couple times.

Lamb experienced some bruises and shed some tears over the event (frustration and not pain), but by the time we all got back to her mom's, she was happy she'd gone. Although this morning, she still had some sore points from falling. But she was in good humor through it.

Mister survived. Lamb was happy she went. And ex-spouses managed a family event.

Of course, this probably means we'll need to get Lamb some roller skating lessons this summer. she wasn't alone in struggling, but most of the girls could skate at least a bit. It would be nice if she could join in that fun.