It’s the Christmas season at Travis Park in downtown San Antonio at Jefferson and Pecan. People are out and about, having adventures with their clan. Celebrating the crisp weather, the Christmas lights, the Christmas music. Family is in from out of town, some of them can skate.
Some of them can’t - the locals. Around and around they go until they find a landing spot on the railing or fall on their butt, legs splayed. Then they struggle to get up and skate again. Or what we call skating in San Antonio. Kind of walk skating.
The kids have a great advantage being closer to the ground and fearless. When they fall on their butt, with a look of surprise on their face, they get right up and take off again. Low center of gravity.
Kind of an analogy for life I guess. Kids don’t carry alot of baggage around and skate right on thru to the next adventure. Us adults are loaded down with all kinds of grief. We let it get to us. I get it.
Oh! A little kid swings around his father, holding on with one hand and crashes. His father picks him up, he finds his balance and on they go, his hands held from above with his father’s love.
Three sisters, all holding hands, skate precariously past. They’re holding each other up while almost falling at the same time. Brilliant act. The oldest one is probably in middle school so she knows how to survive.
Boyfriends are skating with their girlfriends, moms are skating with their daughters, adolescent kids are skating solo, as fast as they can go while somehow managing to avoid disaster.
It’s the 23rd day of December. Sun return. Welcome bright new day! The solstice was just two days ago, on the 21st, when the Northern Hemisphere’s tilt away from the Sun reached its maximum and the Sun made its lowest traverse through the sky. Now our Sun is coming back to bless us from high up in the sky.
This is the reason for the season, atleast for our ancient ancestors. It meant spring was coming and summer; harvest and bounty and long warm days.
The skaters turn and glide and tumble. They laugh, they smile, kids scream. There’s a long line of people waiting to rent their skates and get on the ice, take their turn on the carousel, see what they can do while the Christmas music plays on the speakers and the cool breeze comes out of the north and the sun travels slowly just above the skyline.
music from Cafe De Anatolia - Gold 3 (Mix by Billy Esteban) from 1:27:39
ice skating in travis park