My first trip to the ice rink was with a friend and some of her brothers. Truth be told, I really wanted to go because I had a crush on her older brother. I took some old ice skates that had belonged to my mother. They were light blue with fake fur around the top and absolutely NO support. They were also as dull as could be. I could not really skate, but I had a lot of fun. We went several times over the course of the summer and fall (I rented skates) and then for Christmas my grandparents bought me my first pair of Riedell skates. I also began figure skating lessons. Grandma made me a cute pink skating dress and a skirt.

I was not the best skater in my class, but I sure enjoyed myself. And, I found out that there were lots of boys at the ice rink. I started spending more time at the rink to see the boys and this meant more time skating. My parents were pretty busy and many times I walked to the ice rink. The closest one was about 2.5 to 3 miles away. So I would walk 5 to 6 miles round trip and skate for the 2 hour session. Needless to say, I was getting a lot of exercise. Within about a year, my nickname at school became “Legs”.

I was in band and band students did not take physical education classes because we marched in the late summer and fall. We practiced marching most days. As I alluded earlier, I also walked a lot in high school. I walked to work when I had summer jobs. I walked to my grandma’s house 6 miles away (Grandpa would drive me home). I walked to my friend’s house about 2 miles away. Sometimes I walked home from school (at least 2 miles) too. Other times, I rode my bike. I didn’t really care how I got where I was going, I just did what had to be done to get there. I never really thought about any of this as exercise. I never really had a weight problem in high school either.

I started college with the best intentions. I even took figure skating for my PE credits. However, I gained the Freshman 10 or 15. Too many nights at the disco drinking and too many pizzas. If it weren’t for all of the dancing at the disco, I would probably have gained even more. The problem with college is that although I was officially a Journalism (Communication Arts and Sciences) major, I was really majoring in DISCO. After one and a half years, I quit college and joined the Navy. Talk about BOOT CAMP classes. I did the real thing!