One thing that keeps robbing me of time with Michele is her interminable training program. Her taut little body comes at a price, and she keeps at her rather grim-seeming practice regimen, but she also seems to enjoy it immensely. Early one Saturday morning, not yet light out, I went to the rink to see what was so much fun.
I parked my tush on one of the cold rink benches, and immediately wished I'd worn something longer if not warmer than my bright purple squall jacket. My jeans were simply not up to the task of insulating me from the cold hard surface, but my rear end is quite capable of warming a bench :=P. After a while I got more comfortable, aided by a hot chocolate from the stand. (Hmmmm, wonder when those pretty cognac-color cords will go on sale at Lands End...)
Skaters (mostly girls) were warming up both off and on the ice. Some were practicing crossovers, mohawks, and turns, and doing portions of the USFSA tests. Others were doing spirals, lunges, shoot the ducks, bauers, spread eagles, pivots, and attitudes. Still others were going through the familiar jumps and spins too numerous to mention.
I knew from my conversations with Michele that figure skating was a complex sport, that it's not just the jumps and their difficulty - it's also how well a given jump, spin, or spiral sequence is performed. And there are basic skating skills on display between these performance highlights: edge quality... speed and power... "flow." Does the skater move smoothly across the ice, or does she continually lose speed and have to regain it with a push to the other foot? Do the connecting elements use bi-directional and difficult turns such as brackets, counters, and choctaws, or only the relatively easy forward three turns and inside mohawks? Does the accompanying music find expression in the movement? So I watched the practice with interest, trying to see how all the activities fed into the final product of what might become an actual performance.
Michele and a few others of her age etched circles in the ice with a special tool, and started very slow, deliberate patterns over the circles they'd made. The younger girls yelled, somewhat contemptuously, "Compulsories!!!!! Yeeew! How last century can you get?!"
I really didn't get what happened next. The practice was over, and after the typically strenuous exertions, most of the skaters were stumbling off the ice, except for the few older skaters chatting and the gaggle of teen agers noisily flaunting their youth. Suddenly, Michele, whom I'd come to watch, sped up and circled the entire perimeter of the ice. She went onto the inside edge of one skate, lifting her other leg up and back, stretching her hands out over her head, taking the blade of the free leg and pulling toward her head, and then just balancing and gliding on one leg all the way around the rink... a perfect (and very long) Bielmann.
It was a lovely but hard glide, and Michele stopped in front of me, her breasts rising and falling with each breath, her pretty face framed in an auburn updo a few inches from mine. Her skating outfit was gray like the winter sky, and, in spite of the coldness of the rink, damp with perspiration. Little beads of sweat were running down her pretty face. Her eyes danced with exhilaration, and while I looked at her, the color of her cheeks shifted and deepened just as it would upon a bed of pink blossoms swaying in the wind.
I leaned forward to gently kiss the flowers. "What's up with the impromptu show?" I asked.
She replied, "With us 'older' skaters still on the ice and within earshot, that little 14-year-old bitch over there said a little too loudly, 'Why are THEY still competing?' My coach just now said to the little snot, 'That's why [referring to me] - because they love the beauty of the sport. And if you are really lucky you will be able to do that in ten more years. And one more thing. The compulsory moves----a deliberate return to the basics----are the building blocks of EVERYTHING.'"
I could tell from the expression on Michele's face that this was a great moment and that she was going to be in a really good mood for quite some time.
Michele usually walked to and from the rink, but I offered her a ride, which meant she didn't have to shower and change here, and she quickly pulled off her skates and slipped on her down parka and loafers. I further suggested that after she freshened up we engage in one of our favorite pastimes, some power shopping. This brought out a smile of even greater intensity than the one she'd had on her face ever since her lovely display. We were at her house in less than 5 minutes, and she disappeared into the bathroom.
In the meantime, I tried out her new furniture, a gorgeous turquoise and white room size sectional and loveseat, wonderfully large and comfortable. I began to think that maybe we shouldn't go anyplace. But given our mutual passion for shopping, I also did not want to interrupt the flow of our day... After all, we didn't get one to ourselves that often. So I began trying to think of places where, if the need truly arose, we could kill two birds with one stone. Uh, stores with private fitting rooms maybe? Hmmm... Maybe Nordstrom's. Some folks complain about their lighting, but they DO have mirrors on 3 sides. Hehehehe. :=P