the scandalous skateboard story

... as promised ...

growing up in a family with six kids, i think my parents put in extra effort to help each of us find something within us that made us unique. at least that's what i tell myself when i try to find a reason why my mom gave me a skateboard when i was 7, because i can state with all confidence that i did not ask her for it.

my skateboard was red with blue wheels. and i liked it. i rode that thing a lot. like, a lot, a lot. the last time i saw it, the paint was chipping off and the wood was splitting. the blue wheels were pretty worn. i don't think we have it anymore. but it might be somewhere in my parents' garage: they liked to have it around come moving day -- it not only served as a distraction for those always underfoot, but on moving day it made a pretty decent dolly for my dad's overstuffed filing cabinet.

i was a nervous kid even back then, so i didn't generally have the courage to ride my skateboard standing. (sorry guys, i *am* a girl.) so usually i rode my skateboard on my knee, using the other foot to paddle myself down the sidewalk. and that's what i did. and that's what i loved. back and forth, up and down my street, day after day.

one day, not unlike many others during that era, i was out in front of the house riding my skateboard back and forth, up and down the street. my sister wanted to play soccer in the front yard. but i didn't care, i was skateboarding. (it's my story: i can call my lily-livered one-knee paddling "skateboarding" if i want.)

to set up the "soccer field" in our front yard, my sister dragged the garden hose across the lawn to mark off the half-way line. why she even needed a half-way line marked off when she was playing soccer by herself, i'm still not sure i really understand. oh, well.

so, my sister stretched the garden hose all the way across the lawn. and then across the sidewalk. which interrupted my skateboarding. this frustrated me. to say the least. i thought the world should revolve around me -- and in select moments, around my skateboard, too. (not only was i a nervous child, but i somehow managed to be a spoiled child -- even being the second of six kids. figure that out.)

so i moved the hose, picked up my skateboard, walked back over to the end of the sidewalk and quickly got back to my skateboarding. to ease my frustrations. i was very frustrated. i needed to skateboard. so as i came back down the sidewalk trying to lose my cares in my skateboarding, the wind blowing through my hair as i picked up speed, i was completely oblivious to the fact that my sister pulled the hose back across the sidewalk -- she needed to mark off the middle of her soccer field, you know.

and i didn't see it until it was too late, at which point my face was already heading straight for the sidewalk.

i don't remember much of what happened after that. i remember crying. i remember it hurt. i remember that recovery was long and slow. i remember going to the dentist. i remember losing a tooth.

and that, friends, is the scandalous skateboard story. hope you didn't miss anything good on tv in order to read it.