Skateland

Ok, Shon you got it...

The roller rink....oh what sweet memories. I would think that about everyone I knew growing up would remember Skateland. And if you didn't have a Skateland, I'm sure you had a Skate Palace or Skate World or something...

I think my friends and I spent most of our pre-teen years plus...skating. Panda party's, the dreaded couple skate, the slimy bathroom floors, the greenish looking hot dogs that came with a bag of chips and a pop for $1.50.

I think most people I know had their first kiss on one of the long red carpeted benches that lined the side of the rink. We would skate up and down the carpeted area searching and searching for our hearts desire....and if we couldn't find them, we just stared at the skate guards who we thought were so freaking hot!

We requested our favorite couple skate song and then prayed that we would be asked to skate..and prayed that the boy who asked us knew how to go backwards so we didn't spend the whole time looking over our shoulder making sure he wasn't going to run us into the rail...see we started having to give directions at an early age.

You thought the hokie-pokie was stupid, but as soon as it came on you were out on the floor making an ass out of yourself, its just what you did. You would beg your parents to let you go to the all night skate nights, then wonder why, half through the night....

We, meaning the girls, would squeeze our asses in jeans three sizes too small. This is of course accomplished by laying on the bed with a pair of pliers and attempting to zip your jeans up without pitching your skin in the process. We MADE our skinny jeans...by ripping out the seams of the legs and pulling out the old sewing machine and sewing them soooo tight that everytime you pulled them off or on your feet would rip out the seam....those were the days...I still feel the pain in my kidneys and bladder.

The walls of that place witnessed so many breakups, first kisses, broken hearts, make out sessions by the pinball machine that its insane. I think I have a garbage bag somewhere full of stuffed animals from numerous Panda Parties. Depending on how many people showed up determined the size of the stuffed animal you got. I think you also got in free or something..that fact is escaping me.

I think the last time I went roller skating at that rink was when I was about sixteen and bored on a Friday night with friends. I remember it being sad because the place was starting to really show its age and we hadn't been there in years. The place was almost empty...Loud music still blared from the DJ booth...I think the same guy was working who we once thought was hot....after he reached 18 we just thought him lame..poor guy.

I think the highlight of that night was that a guy I liked found out we were up there and came in and stood in the snack bar area watching us make fools out of ourselves. When I saw him I remember my heart skipped a beat and I felt like I was thirteen all over again....also felt pretty stupid.

I think it would be hard not to remember those years without thinking of Skateland. It was the thing to do, the place to go. We all had horrible fights with our friends, got boyfriends, lost boyfriends...enjoyed childhood...and lost childhood when they finally closed it down.

I still cant come to Omaha and drive on that road without looking over at that big white building and smiling. It holds a lot of memories...it also holds about 10 tons of wadded up gum stuck under those carpeted benches.....ick....