{"id":4077,"date":"2015-05-20T13:17:42","date_gmt":"2015-05-20T18:17:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/?p=4077"},"modified":"2015-05-20T13:17:42","modified_gmt":"2015-05-20T18:17:42","slug":"those-skater-kids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/rebeccafrech\/2015\/05\/those-skater-kids.html","title":{"rendered":"Those $#*&@ Skater Kids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

The first time we went to the skate park on a non- WCMX night, I began to have a few reservations about Ella\u2019s \u201csport of choice.\u201d The foul-mouthed cigarette smoking punks were not the peer group I would have chosen for my sweet ballerina.<\/p>\n

That first time when she was the only kid in a chair, she was stared at and I was ignored. The second time, they watched what she was doing and gave her some space.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0799[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The game changed when they saw her drop in on the quarter pipe. (Dropping in is hard enough on a skate board. It\u2019s terrifying to learn in a wheelchair \u2013 it\u2019s a blind drop down a steep ramp.) That was the first time we heard the \u201cskater clap\u201d as they banged their boards against the ramps in appreciation, and she learned what it was to have earned their respect. In their eyes, she was no longer just the \u201ckid in the wheelchair,\u201d she had mastered one of their advanced skills and really was one of them.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0906\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Trips to the skate park have become a regular part of our lives. Ella in her new daily\/skate chair hybrid, and the other kids on scooters, bikes, and skateboards. We try to go early so that we\u2019re gone before the more experienced skaters show up. Not because they don\u2019t want us there, but because the 3 and 5 year-olds can get in their way and we\u2019re trying to be kind. (Okay, it\u2019s also that they don\u2019t want the littlest kids on the ramps, but I\u2019m okay with that.)<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0802[1]\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m no longer ignored as I take pictures and chase the littlest ones. I\u2019m \u201cMom.\u201d They all call me that (even the ones in their 20s.) I\u2019m hugged and greeted, even at the grocery store, by these rough talking kids. I scold them about their language and nag them about the smoking, and they blush and apologize. They hand me their phones beg me to take photos and videos of their latest stunts. They show off for me and grin when I clap. I\u2019ve lost track of the sighed comments \u201cI wish my mom would come so I could show her what I can do. She just drops me off, and then comes back later to pick me up.\u201d<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned that this motley crew of the \u201cnot cool kids\u201d (as they all label themselves) have such incredibly big hearts. I sit on the sidelines and watch them share freely of their talents and skills, teaching and reteaching the less experienced kids not just their\u00a0 insane tricks, but also how to do them as safely as possible. There are other kids at the park with physical limitations who have also been absorbed into this sub-culture that revolves around ramps and wheels.They don\u2019t offer any excuses \u2013 which is good because no one would accept them. It\u2019s a come-you-are and do-your-own-thing world, and I get to watch it all go down, very often the only parent in sight.<\/p>\n

These kids I was once so unsure of are so incredibly great. They may not look like the Gap-ad clean-cut picture of Americana that I\u2019d hoped for as my kids friends, but I\u2019m learning that appearances really are meaningless. I watch my daughter, who the rest of the world looks at as disabled, rolling along beside them and realize that they stopped seeing her differences weeks ago. They\u2019re more impressed that she\u2019s a girl at the skate park than they are by the wheelchair.<\/p>\n

\"IMG_0970\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Last week I heard a newcomer say as we rolled through the gate, \u201cAw man\u2026that\u2019s so cool that that little wheelchair kid is\u00a0 like trying to live a normal life\u2026\u201d only to hear a regular cut him off, \u201cHey, don\u2019t talk that way about her. It p*sses her off. Admire her awesomeness. She doesn\u2019t want your pity.\u201d<\/p>\n

That was when I decided to start bringing cookies.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

(Those aren\u2019t my cookies. I don\u2019t usually take pictures of food. I just don\u2019t think of it. Photo By Heather [CC BY 2.0 (http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first time we went to the skate park on a non- WCMX night, I began to have a few reservations about Ella\u2019s \u201csport of choice.\u201d The foul-mouthed cigarette smoking punks were not the peer group I would have chosen for my sweet ballerina. That first time when she was the only kid in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[6,42,37,8,26,14,21,77],"class_list":["post-4077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-ella","tag-family","tag-friends","tag-life-lessons","tag-people","tag-teenager","tag-truth","tag-wcmx"],"yoast_head":"\nThose $#*&@ Skater Kids<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The first time we went to the skate park on a non- WCMX night, I began to have a few reservations about Ella's "sport of choice." 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