A Place for Memories

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you probably know that my life basically revolves around 4 things - my faith, my family, stamping and skating. My daughter Emma has been ice skating since she was 4 years old, she's 12 now, and has been competing both in singles and with the National Blades Synchronized Skating teams for the past 4 years. So, each week, 3 to 4 days a week, all year long, we make the 1/2 hour trek to our local rink, Prince William Ice Center. It's a pretty easy assumption to say that a good part of our lives revolves around available freestyle sessions and team practice ice.

The photo below shows our home rink on what appears to be a beautiful Summer day. It's one of the most familiar sights to our family and I can't begin to count the number of times we've been in and out of those front doors.

This is the front entrance to our rink as it stands today.

I have no words for this.

Usually I can be counted on to find something appropriate to say in whatever situation, whether witty or comforting, but today, I am just beyond sad.

It is a fortunate thing, I think, that in my life, I've been blessed to have never experienced the devastating loss of home or property to the extent that so many countless others have when disaster strikes. My heart always goes out to them, but somehow that always seems so far removed from me too.
Today, I think I understand a little bit better.

Our record setting snows this past week were just too much for the roof to handle and it collapsed under the weight of it all. No one, fortunately, was inside when it gave way, but what remained was the intangible feeling of home.
While this building didn't 'belong' to me and my family, we feel as if we've lost, at least temporarily, our home. To see it this way, so broken, just tears at my heart.

This ice rink was more than just a building, it was home to our community of families and friends brought together because of our collective love of skating and hockey.
Some of our dearest friends were made there. We shared joys and heartbreak, injuries and illnesses, births and deaths. You knew that when you were there on a Monday, you'd get to visit with one set of friends and on Wednesday, another group.
I have so many memories from this place - Emma's first skating lesson, holding the hands of her instructor, Marina; her first ice show performance in her blue velvet skating dress that made her feel like a princess; her first synchro team practice/try out where she left the ice crying because it was so hard - and the little girl who convinced her to come back and try it again.
Emma earned her first singles Gold Medal at this rink, and I got to put it around her neck.
Our ice rink was a constant in our lives, a place of wonderful memories and those yet to be made, a place where friends and families met - laughed together, cried together and stuck together.

And we will stick together.
The rink owners have said they are committed to rebuilding - and quickly. That makes my heart happy.
So, over the next many months, our 'family' will be scattered to whatever rink we can get to for ice time and coaching, but we have the knowledge that we will all be together again. Under a new roof, assuredly, but the spirit will be the same. Home.
To quote Emma's synchro coach, "Tough times don't last, tough people do."

~~Robin