Big Dreams From The Little Screen

It has been almost five years since I started. There is nothing in my life that brings me more joy than being on the ice. I can't wait for the day that my mother and father say that I can join Figure Skating for the olympics some year. They say they would rather have me be in football or basketball or anything other than. My heart tells me to follow my dreams and do it anyways, but how?

The first time that I watched it on the tiny little television we used to have in the living room I knew. I was only four years old but I told myself that I was going to be a star some day. That I was going to be the best, and that all I had to do was get some ice skates. I didn't think about it again after that until about two years later when I went to a garage sale with my older cousin and I saw ice skates. After begging and begging him to buy them for me she finally gave in.

I had asked myself where was I planning on starting. I didn't know until one day I was walking home from school with some friends in the wintertime. We decided that we would take a short cut through the park because it was a nice winter day. So that is what we did and to my surprise we passed a pond. I was so excited but I didn't say anything because I didn't want my friends to make fun of me. I don't know why they would have but then I didn't think of it that way.

Excited I went back a couple of days later with my skates after telling my mother and father that I was playing with friends. The frozen little pond was perfect for me. The park and the pond were surrounded by trees and bushes on either side. It was a beautiful view that I had as I tried for my first time. Taking the risk of having not told anyone and not knowing what I was doing is something that I never regret.

It came natural to me like breathing air and drinking water. It took a couple of tries and at first I fell a couple of times, but before long I was graceful as ever. I had to stop myself a couple of times from closing my eyes and imagine that I was doing it in front of a crowd of people. There was no music playing for me as I made up my own in my mind as I went. The skates going so effortlessly with my movement.

After my parents finally figured out I had been doing in my free time after school they laughed. They told me it was just a phase and that I would soon grow out of it. Time went by and I carried on and they didn't have much to say other than that I would grow out of it. I never did and I never will. My biggest goal is doing something with it, but they wont let me. I'm eleven years old and they won't support my dreams, but I'll chase them anyways.

There is a girl in my school that I talk to that does it too, but she's on a team. After asking my parents if I could join the school team so that I could get better they had taken my newest pair of skates away, but she gave me an extra pair her family had laying around. She says I should never listen to what they say and that I should run away. If I ran away I could chase my dreams and become who I want to be, but where would I go?

Sometimes she says I can come stay with her but than we realize it wouldn't work. How could I hide from my parents and not get in trouble. There is not a way, but it is wishful thinking. We spend many weekend afternoons during the winter ice skating when she isn't doing it with her team. We want to be on the team together because we work well together and she has taught me many things.

Our hands fit so perfectly in each others while we dance on the ice pond and the ice rink. Her parents had to pretend they were my relatives to sign a waiver for me so that I could even go to the rink. My parents would never let me and they don't like that. They tell me that when I am eighteen I can go and do whatever I want with my future and that my mother and father can't stop me. I count down the days, but the day doesn't come soon enough.

One day I will be on the big screen and living out my dream. I know that I will because ever since I met her she helped me believe that it was possible. There is nothing better than the nights we sneak off together and skate in the park and pretend we have a crowd. Her family supports her one hundred percent, and I wish mine did as well. Something about them not supporting it makes me being with her practicing give me an adrenaline high. One day I will be there, and I hope and pray she will be with me.

Photo Credit