When I was a child I loved to rollerskate. I still do. I've had many skates but my first pair was my favorite. I asked for them for Christmas. My only wish was a pair of white skates with hot pink wheels. I received them on Christmas day 1981. I was so in love with them. I would clean them up with soap and water when they got dirty, I slept with them at the foot of my bed each night, I put them on each morning and I thought they were the best thing in the world. One day I fell in them and scuffed the toe. I never could get that scuff mark out and I was so disappointed in myself.
As time went by I put the skates in the garage when I was finished playing with them....soon I even left them outside sometimes. They got dirty and I didnt' really bother to clean them up. When my friends came over they raved about how pretty my skates were. They didn't need to tell me. I knew my skates were the best.
They would pick them up and say how beautiful they were and even ask if they could try them out. I don't know why they even asked. I was very protective of my skates and I didn't want anyone to use them because they belonged to ME. After my friends went home sometimes I would feel bad so I'd clean them up a little and put them in my room for the night, but after a few days, they would return back to the garage again.
The next Christmas I got a barbie that I had been dying for and I put those skates out of my mind. I mean really, my skates would always be there. Where would they go. They belonged to me! A few months passed and some kids were rollerskating outside. I ran to the backyard to get my skates. I looked on the side of the house and they weren't there. I looked in the playhouse and no such luck. I check the garage but I couldn't not find those darn skates. Where did I leave them? I looked high and low and began to get kind of sad. Finally, I went outside to watch the kids skate. While I was watching everyone have a great time a neighbor kid was really perfecting her turns in her great new skates. Her skates held my attention. Hmmmmm, I looked closer and there was something familiar about those skates. I slowly stood up and walk towards her. She began to slowly move backwards. I asked her where she got those new skates and she said her mom bought them. I moved in closer and realized that the same scuff mark from the first time I had ever fallen was on her skates. Funny thing though, they seemed so different on her feet. They were extra shiny, they had new wheels and even the chrome was sparkling. They didn't seem like mine at all except I KNEW they were. I accused her of stealing my skates and I wouldn't let up. She finally admitted that they USED to be mine. She said I had left them outside on the driveway one night and the next morning they were still there. She assumed that I must not want them anymore. I beat her up and took my skates off her feet. I sat down and put them on my feet. I had my skates back. I tried to skate with them all day but they just seemed different. They wouldn't turn right, they wouldn't glide. I kept getting tripped up by smalls rocks. They didn't feel like my skates anymore. They hurt my feet, they even gave me a blister. They looked strange on my feet. They were no longer my skates. I miss those skates. I should have taken care of them.
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