I have a wintery christmassy story to tell. In Canada, everyone has been on skates. I posted this story elsewhere but here we go!
When I was a child, my mother had a fascination with Barbara-Ann Scott. She would speak of her as if she were someone I should look up to. She was a figure skater from Ontario and famous for her ‘saut de biche’ which was some kind of arabesque in midair.
I took ballet classes for several years and even won a scholarship. I enjoyed sports a lot as something I would do for myself and not as a competitor .
I was extremely light and fast, could stand on a bicycle seat and would let go of the handles. I went down an icy hill on skates and broke my wrist in 3 places, something that would not stop me. I also remember that my mother signed me up for a race on ice skates. Everyone was betting on me I suppose.
As I was twirling and doing figures of eight, the gun went off and I started going the other way, owning the rink as the skaters were trying to pass one another going the other way. I felt glorious on my own with no competition until I was taken off the ice with no medal in sight.