Not a darn thing, unless you were where DG and I were today. It’s the kickoff of the week-long marathon of irish dance shows leading into St. Patrick’s Day. The first show was today, and it was for the “halftime” (or whatever it’s called) of a local Roller Derby contest. As we walked up to the roller hockey rink, we heard the names of the players being called, and I was tempted to put my hands over DG’s ears (even if she’s heard it all before). Women in pink, purple and black punching each other out in the middle of an oval-shaped concrete surface, women shoving and pushing and moving fast on their skates with an obese, red-faced ref in the middle shouting them all down.
I felt like I’d been transported to a different planet. Or back in time, to the days where roller derby was the Saturday afternoon sport on TV when I was a kid. Roller derby and bowling. Those were the days.
As the other parents arrived with their little cute 8-year olds I thought to myself…what on earth am I thinking, bringing my daughter to this place with bikers and tough women shoving each other around on roller skates? My other thought was that some of these other moms had to be thinking the same thing, with an added finger wave at our teacher. I really like our teacher, so I kept my mouth shut and a smile pasted on my face even though I was pissed off at a number of things today and didn’t want to be there at all. When they introduced “kitty titty” I cringed, but it was almost show time.
Surprise for me! This had to be the very best ever audience these girls have ever had. The skaters and spectators alike were completely into their performance, giving them serious respect, applause and attention. Afterwards, they were so kind to all the girls, encouraging and high-fiving, telling them how great they thought they were. As a parent who sees how hard her daughter is working, it’s truly gratifying to see her get some recognition for that, and suddenly I felt small and stupid for prejudging this group as somehow being not kid-friendly.
I learned something today, and so did DG. She says “It’s completely weird, but it’s weird and strange, and wonderful…”
It was weird. It was strange, but more than that, it reminded me that appearances deceive, and sometimes the most wonderful people can be found in the most interesting places.
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