My first visit to Rye Airfield.

I walked into Rye Airfield and the first thing I saw was little people on skateboards. Little people are children, in case you didn't know. I see the place where I need to check in. There are 3 young guys there. My first thought OMG, they aren't adults! and then I thought I feel old. I told the kid I wanted to take a lesson so we chatted a bit about that. We decided on next Friday with someone named Chris. I'm dying to know how old Chris is. Can he vote? Anyway, having a bunch of kids, and the occasional old lady, on skateboards and BMX bikes is a bit of a liability so there is a 5 page waiver that needs to be signed. I walked around the corner to sign it and I called Mike over. I whispered "How old are they?" and he tells me they're probably about 15 or 16. I forget that I'm not 18. In my head I am but the rest of me isn't. I look at these kids and I'm sort of thinking DUUUUUUDE and they're thinking Does she know my mom? Depressing.

After we got that all squared away I asked if we could look around and watch the kids skate. There's a balcony type thing that overlooks the entire place so we went up there. Most of the kids there were part of Ramp Camp. They were pretty good at what they were doing. I was impressed. I have to admit we did giggle when someone would wipe out. These little people, and some of them were very little, had it going on. It was fun to watch them. We even got to see a little bit of drama. At one point I looked at Mike and said "This is going to be a very embarrassing experience for me, isn't it?" and he said "Yes."

We left the skatepark and went down the street to find a skateshop I'd discovered online. We went to this place because I still need to get knee pads. I have to tell you, I didn't feel very welcome in this place. Nobody smiled and the guy almost seemed put out because he had to help me. First he asks what size I need. I tell him I don't know. Then he asks how much I want to spend. These things can run from $34 to $80. I wasn't looking to spend $80 and told him that. He gives me this knee pad and I ask him if I'm supposed to slide it up my leg or do I just velcro it. He looked at me and I don't think he thought I was serious at first. So I said "Do you really think this is going to fit up my leg? Really? I'm fat and I know this." Still, he's just giving me this look. He tells me to just velcro it on. Then he comes out with this giant storm trooper knee pad. I put it on and I gotta tell ya, as much as I tried to Use the Force, it wasn't working for me. At this point, not even 5 minutes had gone by, he asks where I'm taking lessons. I tell him and he says I can rent some knee pads there. OK! Was that a subtle hint to get lost? I won't be going back there. I didn't find them friendly.

My visit to Rye Airfield was great. The kid who helped me out was nice and knew what he was doing. He didn't laugh at me either. I thought that was nice of him. My visit to the skateshop, not so great. As far as I'm concerned they can shove their knee pads up their ass.

A week from today I will have my first lesson. I'll let you know how it goes

-Beaver