A Little Bit About Natalie

It was circa 1993, and I was living in New York City. It was the first warm sunny day of spring, and I set out to purchase my first pair of inline skates. I had researched skate shops, found one about 10 blocks from my apartment, and walked over. Ever prepared, I even brought a backpack so that I could carry my shoes while I skated home. I had no doubt I could skate home, because I had rented some inline skates once, with a group of friends, and we had skated the (smooth, flat, even-surfaced) rink in Central Park.


I purchased my skates, and proudly informed the sales clerk that no, I didn’t need the box, because I was going to skate home. I didn’t quite understand the cynical look he gave me as I teetered to the front of the store. And out into the sunshine I went. The streets were packed – cabin fever and a beautiful day brought everyone out, many folks with dogs and strollers. Well, the store was on a very slight incline – and suddenly my optimistic plan turned into a really bad movie scene. As I began rolling out of control down the sidewalk, people were literally jumping left and right to get out of my way!! I finally stopped by crashing into a glass store front (no, it didn’t break, but imagine what that must have looked like to the people inside the store) – only continuing the bad movie scene! I humbly sat down, took my skates off, and walked the rest of the way home. Yes, if I had a tail it would have been between my legs.


Well, I’m nothing if not persistent, so from that point I spent many weekends trying to master skating – but on a much less public, less dangerous path! I like to think that I am a better skater now. Eventually I became a ‘skate commuter’ in Manhattan – although my work was only about 2 miles from home, trust me, skating through NYC traffic is quite the adventure by itself!


I moved to Houston a few years later for a great job (still my current job), but after a few months hadn’t really made any friends outside of work. I was looking for something to do (other than become better acquainted with Houston TV channels), and saw a notice for one of the skate groups. Upon further research, I learned that Houston had a very active skate community, and lots of different groups. I decided I’d try them all. Inline Swine was my first, and it was a perfect fit for my personality. Social, fun, friendly, a stop for a drink, snack, or ice cream (those were my favorite stops). Although I’ve taken a few breaks over the years (I call it falling off the skate wagon), I’ve skated with the swine for 13 years now, and it has led to several adventures – including a skate/bike weekend in Austin to do the Road Rash Marathon, A2A with another skater, and a long weekend trip with 8 other Houston skaters (plus the son and roommate of one couple in our group) to Napa for the inline marathon out there, where we were also able to do the San Francisco Friday night skate. That weekend was an adventure that led to many funny stories and great memories. I’m looking forward to the new stories and memories from our trip to Europe this summer!!