Trust

You really don't know how much trust there is in a relationship until you have to rely on each other.

Today I took DS1 ice skating. It was 63 glorious degrees and I had promised him that I would take him skating before the end of winter (which is Friday), if the weather gave us a day in which we wouldn't freeze. Today was the day.

I had never been skating on ice that was covered by a half inch of water before, but that is where I learned to trust myself. To show him it wasn't bad, I did a few laps with him just watching. Did he have any problem picking me out of the crowd, you might wonder? No. We were the ONLY ones there! I guess all the other mommies got the skating out of their system much earlier in the winter and chose to hit the playground on such a glorious day. But we were also at the unknown skating rink in NYC.

I write this knowing I will offend some, maybe many. First we all tend to gather with our own kind - moms with moms, dads with dads, hippies with hippies, old people with old people, and yes, frankly it would be naive to think that we don't gather by ethnic commonality. NYC is classic in that; there is the Russian enclave in Brighton beach, there is Spanish Harlem separate for "just" Harlem, there is Chinatown, and there is the artsy Upper West Side vs. the old money Upper East Side. All this preamble to tell you I'm not a racist pig, I just know the hoods. I also like mixing it up and not staying only in my hood.

And the unknown ice skating rink in NYC is in Central Park. No not Wollman Rink, down at 60th street, where one adult plus one child, with skate rental costs almost $30, and then you get suckered into the $5/cup hot chocolate, etc. We went uptown. Up to 108th street, where the two of us and our skates only cost $20. Where there is not hot chocolate choice. Up where I heard a grandma shout at her kid, "If you keep doing that your going to get a butt whipping!" And you know why I love this city, because I can go there.

Well, with no one on the ice, we could do anything. Yes, he trusted me enough to hold my hand and try. With no one to stop us, although he did tell me he thought I would get in trouble, I took a great big orange warning cone onto the ice, had him hold on and pushed him around at a good speed. We sat and took off our skate as a hip looking Latino kid (male, 20 something) took the ice and amazed us with spins and a few jumps. Frankly I think a great male role model with which to end the day!

When we went to leave he was glowing with pride of having gave it a go, even if he wasn't "skating". He wants us to go again, liking us having "mommie alone time". I was glowing for another reason. I knew he was scared, but he trusted me, held my hand and gave it a go!