Mar (picture to follow)

I first started skating when I was 6 or 7 years old. My neighborhood had several hilly streets—I owe all my knees’ scars to those streets! My sister, brother, and I used to roller skate down the streets all the time wearing no safety equipment—knee pads, wrist pads, helmets, etc. I kept roller skating occasionally untill I was 14 years old. Then we emmigrated to The States and there were countless things to be learned. Roller skating ended up in the not-important-to-do list.

When I was 27 and living in Houston, my ex taught me to roller blade on the streets of Houston. I was afraid of skating on the streets, but the satisfaction took over. My ex invited me to the Wednesday night skate at Shiloh’s back in 2002. I only skated for a few months. After my ex and I broke up, I went back to skating to release stress and other negative feelings. At the beginning I was shy with the group because English is my second language and sometimes people don’t understand what I’m saying. But I finally came to peace with that aspect of my life—well nobody is perfect!