Feb. 17, 2006 - 23:41 MST

TIME WELL SPENT

A very cold day spent at home, trying to catch up on family bookkeeping (such as I do it), eating and generally goofing around. I guess the temperature got somewhere in the teens with a breeze blowing as well. I didn't go out neither did Heather, we'll check the mail box tomorrow after the postperson comes on Saturday rounds.

AT 10:47 PM MST tonight, here in the Denver the temperature was 8 degrees below zero, estimated low in the night 12 below, Wind NE 5 - 15 mph and I became hard of hearing when they announced the effects of wind chill.

Within five days the fearcasters say it might reach the low forties -- no guarantees though.

Memory is a weird thing, and depending on it for the specifics is foolish for me. I suppose I could Google the data, but just thinking back to the winter of 1962 here in Denver. I was working for a company that was building escape systems for military aircraft which sat alongside Stapleton airport. We had a cold snap and a hummer it was and a long winded one too.

Memory tells me that it didn't get above zero for about a week and went to about 25 below at night. I do remember for sure that the company truck was kept garaged and when second shift got off some one would fire up the truck and bring it around to jump start the cars that wouldn't start on their own. I remember having a friend come to jump start me so I could go to work.

'Twas a bit unusual for Denver, usually a night or two below zero and then back to high thirties and sometimes shirt sleeve weather for a while. Snow would blow and the streets wouldn't need plowing a good part of the time. That is the kind of weather we have been having, unseasonably warm and nice.

What better time to cosy in and watch the Olympics in the warmth of home, sipping tea and noshing a bit.

We enjoyed seeing slalom skiing and some of the snowboarding but our main joy was watching compulsory program couples figure skate dancing.

Heather was a skate dancer on roller skates and got me interested in dancing with her. I had a fair background on skating as I wore out pair after pair of sidewalk skates skating downtown and back, then a bit older I also used to ice skate on the city park lakes, (the city bladed the ice for skating) held my own in the games we kids used to play and had a bunch of fun at it.

Of course there is a bit of history there too. Heather baby-sat my best friends kids, lived two doors from he and his wife. I had done a little roller skating at a rink near where I lived and was comfortable on wheels. The second shift bunch at work decided to have a skating party and most of us were enthused. One of the men billing clerks was a shy bashful type and my friend fixed him up with a date with his baby sitter. Meanwhile my prospective date turned up sick, my girl cousin didn't skate, so I decided to be a stag on wheels.

Fate has a way of doing its thing, the billing clerk was too shy to relate with Heather and I found myself skating with her. Needless to say, I was totally enchanted with the lady. Her expertise on sktes was far beyond mine and I managed to hook her up to a guy I knew who could handle "spinning" and a good part of that evening he would come by and take her center floor and "spin." I never did get good enough, nor have a teacher showing me how to handle a girl in the air, but as our romance deepened she began to teach me how to skate dance. Not that I ever got so good, just good enough to follow her lead. She's the one who had the job, coaching me for my steps as she did the lady's steps.

I was working nights and we would go to Mammoth Gardens to practise sessions in the daytime.

We kept doing that until the number of our kids made it impossible to do so and still take care of them and the house.

But skating and skate dancing is in our blood, deep to the core of our being. We both admire expert skating, including compulsory figures. Ice skaters would do figures 'center floor' at Mammoth during warm weather to stay in practice and we would stand around and watch their moves. I learned a bit about proper skating from that.

Tonight though, was the night of wonder for the two of us the absolute romance of couples skate dancing kept our eyes riveted to the TV. Heather turned to me during a commercial break, her eyes shining and said , "Don't you wish we could go back to being young again and become expert skate dancers this time ?" I guess my eyes glistened a bit, with a tear in the corner and I gently reminded her, "If wishes were horses, beggars would ride." And then the old chestnut, "You can't 'go back home,' even if it is an ice rink." Ohh, wouldn't it be nice though ?

There will be more Olympic skating on TV this winter session and we will be at our seats for our souls to dance in our being with the Olympians.

I know there is much to admire in other events, all of them. They all show devotion to achieving perfection in that particular thing. And then each has its own beauty, and grace as well as strength and endurance too. And we two remind ourselves that whatever event it is, we are watching the best in the world. But ice skating in the winter and swimming and diving in the summer are the things I admire to the max.

My dreams will take me to the ice tonight and Heather and I will do the things we wish we could in reality. I consider that, for the two of us it was TIME WELL SPENT . . . . . . . . . .

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