A while back, David and I were talking about how I was a competitive figure skater back in the 70’s. So, this past January, we decided it would be fun to go watch the competition in St. Louis. I had attended the US Figure Skating Championships in 2007 in Spokane, but I had never taken David. He always enjoys the ice shows on the cruise ships.
He absolutely loved watching the competition. We had a great time as well as some challenges. Neither of us is a fan of cold weather, so there was that. But, it didn’t rain!
This picture was from when my twin sister, Sally, and I won a ladies’ pair competition. There are so few opportunities to compete when you are learning that you take every opportunity.
We skated pretty much every day. In those days, we also had to perform compulsory figures. We also often took ballet lessons specifically for figure skaters, and in the summer, the rink would sponsor a program so we could get extra practice. I can still smell the soup they would serve at lunch.
I had all my double jumps back then. After my first husband died in 2003, I returned to figure skating to reconnect with the things I used to enjoy. I skated for about a year, until I broke both my wrists at the same time and decided it might be time to move on to something else.
One evening, while we were in St. Louis, we went to the old train station right next to the rink. I had heard that during the day they served coffee, but in the evening they served dinner. It looked like it might be an easy dinner since it was so close to the rink and the food looked good on their Google listing.
I was completely unprepared for the marvelous, surprising light show we got along with a very delicious and inexpensive meal.
This is not my video. Because, like a newby my video recording stopped after just 3 seconds.
We had a wonderful time, and David is super excited about watching the Olympics this year. He is becoming more knowledgeable, and I even catch him watching Ilia Malinin on YouTube frequently.