Glimpses

About a year ago, I wrote this post "about two wonderful, magical moments I glimpsed while on the ice this weekend for my skating lesson. Both involving teens. And "liking"/"crushing"/"love." They were adorable and wonderful and reminded me why I love writing for and about these amazing not-kids but not-yet-adults." (Hey, why reinvent the wheel with a new description when the old one worked so well?)

I'm in the mood to share more captured moments. Some are just snapshots, others mini videos. Maybe they'll be great story prompts, or get filed away mentally for imagery. All of them made me smile:

1) A group of boys in prep school uniforms lounging on a grassy slope on the first decently warm and sunny day of the year.

2) Two girls in a convertible, rocking out to a song only they could hear. Their hair was loose and whipping around in the wind. (Voice of experience: when you ride in a convertible or similar vehicle, the 40's starlets totally had it right with wrapping your hair in a scarf. It only takes one night of trying to untangle a mess of waist-length hair to learn to tie it back securely!)

Since I'm a rink rat and public session is a great place for a date when you're a teen (and when you're an adult, though I think I'm in the minority thinking that,) half of these happened out of the corner of my eye while my coach was working on turning me into a puddle of exhausted skater goo:

3) Hockey boy showing off to a girl he likes: when she was on the ice, he held her up gently and, except for the usual skating backwards while holding her hands so that she squeals so loudly the whole rink is like, 'not again',* was sweet and patient while trying to teach her to skate. When she decided to sit behind the boards for a few minutes, he then stayed on that side of the rink, doing a ton of fancy hockey footwork and zipping around the rink at top speed, ending with hockey stops that kicked ice "snow" up against the boards.

4) The most adorable teen couple in the world out on a date during public session today. They looked about fifteen years old, and while the girl seemed semi-comfortable in her rental skates, the boy couldn't skate at all. *cue the cutest falls on the planet* They spent the entire session skating close to the boards (so he could periodically clutch them!**) and this time, it was the girl's turn to patiently try to teach him to skate while he found excuses to hold her hand or clutch at her waist. She kept stealing his hoodie, he took a moment when she stretched her arms and let a little bit of skin show at her waist to show her how cold his hand was (cue screech we heard across the rink.) And then, in one of those moments where she coyly skated closer and away from him a few times before he could wrap his arms around her, they kissed. And my little Grinch "I hate writing kissy scenes" heart grew ten times its size.
I saw them after I got off the ice-- the boy was getting them food from the rink café, the girl was watching him with a goofy smile, like they were the only two people in the rink. And it was awesome.

Do you have any captured moments that made your little Grinch hearts grow?

*seriously, guys, everybody does this. Is it bandied about the hockey locker rooms or something? "Hey, you know, I got Ashley to hold on to me really tight after I did that." ???? Because I see this every other week. Just sayin'. Oh, and if you do decide to drag your crush around the rink, make sure you look over your shoulder when you skate backwards, okay? I know you want to look in her eyes, but there are toddlers on the ice on the sleds of death who just zip underfoot. You definitely won't impress the girl when you're on your butt and a four year old is crying to his mommy that you squished him.

**He did fall on his knees, which made my coach cringe and looked extra painful, but pretended he was okay. I promise you, that's going to bruise...