The stiffness of the skating boot was the first challenge
tightening the laces, they felt hard on her tiny soft foot.
I showed her how to spread one arm for balance
while I held her other hand
I took her slowly, cautiously
I pointed out to other children:
“look at that little boy over there, see how his feet slide? That’s what you should do”
But she didn’t believe spreading her free arm would give her balance,
she didn’t want to imitate the little boy
she wanted to skate her own way,
she didn’t mind falling,
and she fell
many times.
As we staggered on the hard frozen surface, wobbly and ungraceful
we skated across previously etched tracks,
soon our tracks were one of the many.
Then something began to weigh;
she was shackled by my hard grip and my fear for her,
I was shackled by the belief that I mustn’t let her fall,
she finally demanded I let her hand go;
“Mummy! Let me go, but stay behind me, so you can grab me before I fall”
