It's been a while since I blogged.  Skating had been going really well up until August  this year.  I took the month of August off for personal reasons.  Then our office moved and I was caught up with that process and working lots of overtime, so I didn't have time to skate, so another couple of weeks went by.  Then my coach just let me know a few days ago that her school schedule doesn't work out right now for coaching (there's very limited time to coach at Oceanside rink, only very early mornings Monday through Friday.  So I haven't really skated much in 2 months...only a few times during the past few weeks.  I have a plan for getting back into it, though, I really miss skating!

Anyway, this blog is about a dream I had this afternoon about skating.  I dreamt I was in a small show, in a very small rink somewhere.  I was part of a class, I guess, but I was the only adult skater.  I was practicing spinning off ice, before the show, and I was spinning on one foot (which I can't do in real life).  I was trying to figure out the best positions for my arms during the spin.  I finally decided to first hold them right up over my head (ballerina style - again which I've never done in real life), then switch to left arm in a half-circle with right arm outstretched, then both arms in the circle (which Tabitha refers to as holding a beach ball).

At some point before the show, I was on the ice, practicing, and I gathered up some speed and then picked a foot up and went along on the inside right edge (which I can do in real life), but this time I kept up my speed and did a very wide turn on that foot at the end of the rink.  I can probably do this in real life although I've never tried it, and in my dream I had really good speed, I've never gone that fast in real life.  It was exhilerating!

So, the show starts and it's got 3 main skaters and then the others (including me) do a short thing on the ice as our little part.  We had to sit on the floor next to the rink, which was very small and kind of like a half-racetrack shape, with the audience sitting all around the track.  So, two skaters went before me and then it was my turn.  The director of the show was telling me "OK Rene..hurry!  hurry!  It's your turn!!"  I had a hard time getting up off the floor, so was kind of late onto the ice, so I felt in a hurry to do my part and get off again.  I took a few strokes to get to the center, then I couldn't remember the spin sequence I had practiced off ice, so I just did whatever came into my head, and of course I had to do 2-foot spins because I can't really do a 1-foot one yet.  I didn't do as well on the ice as I did practicing off ice, but I did OK, I didn't fall, and skated gracefully off.

When the show ended, each person who performed got up and stood in a line as their name was called out, so the audience could clap.  The 3 main performers got up first, one at a time, and then the few people before me got up, and everyone clapped each time.   Then the director says, "Our next performer is not part of our regular team, and she's an adult skater."   I got up and stood in the lineup and did a little curtsey, but no one clapped for me.  I was disappointed, but I figured by that time, they had clapped a lot and maybe were getting bored just hearing about everyone at the end.

Then I woke up!  I don't remember what I was wearing in the show, but I know it wasn't a costume...it was probably my regular skating workout clothes.  I love to dream about skating because I think it shows some of my insecurities, and also builds my confidence that I can do certain moves that I might be nervous about trying in real life.  Like the 1-foot spin. :)