Yesterday I went skating. As a kid my entire winter recreational life pretty much revolved around skating and the arena. If I wasn't skating I was waiting to go skating or watching hockey at the rink. In mid winter we would spend our spare time clearing off the bogan (back channel of the river) so we could play pond hockey, mostly I just twirled and my brother and his friends would play.

Skating is very freeing. To skate well you have to let yourself go, feel the uncertainty of metal against ice and find a new center of gravity. Skating is about feeling not thinking.

When I was a kid, skating made me very content. I didn't even know how content until yesterday.