How has skateboarding influenced your life?
Well, it's really more of a quirky obsession with me. I mean, I don't know how many other 41-year-old women stare out the window during car trips, always on the look out for a skateable bank or ditch. I've been doing that since I first started skating--always looking for potential playgrounds. Empty reservoirs, pools, sloped banks, whatever. I actually get a tingle up my spine when I see a good possibility. Of course, it's not all that practical to stop if you're going 70 mph.
But to answer your question, I suppose it's kept me young to a certain extent. Maybe I would have been that way anyway, but my idea of fun is seeing how many times I can skate around the kitchen table and into the living room and back without crashing into anything. We definitely have a "skateboards in the house" rule at my house. What else are hardwood floors for? :-)
As a kid, too, I think skateboarding helped me learn how to focus and work toward a goal. No one learns skate tricks on their first try. Well, maybe some do but not me! Skateboarding definitely takes persistence and patience and determination. All those things they teach you in Scouts!
What do your kids think about having a skateboarding mom?
My son is 7 and is just getting interested in skating. A few years ago, he actually chased me through a skatepark yelling "I DON'T WANT A SKATEBOARD MOM!" which went over REALLY well with the other (non-skating) parents sitting on the side. I think the truth was he was scared I was going to hurt myself and he was just trying to protect me. Now he's starting to dabble in it, a little at a time. He likes to ollie...on the carpet. And he thinks it's fun that I describe myself as a "skate-at-home" mom (as opposed to a stay-at-home mom).
A lot of people would think that once you have kids, you're supposed to settle down and stop doing wild or dangerous things like skating - what do you think?
Well, I'm not exactly flying out of bowls--yet. I stay within my abilities for the most part. Not that I'm not trying to improve and push myself--I am. I'm even going to some skate clinics to learn more advanced moves. But it's true. A lot of people have this image of skateboarding as some maniacal activity. I do it because I like the feel of zooming, just as one enjoys the weightless feeling you get in snowboarding and surfing. You can't get that from a game of tennis. At least I can't.
On that note, I should add that I definitely pile on the safety equipment every time I ride--even the geeky wrist guards. My body does not bounce off cement the way it did when I was 12. (I'd wrap myself in bubble wrap if I thought it would help.) Also, I know I can't expect my son to wear safety gear if I don't. So it goes on, every time.
You founded the International Society of Skateboarding Moms - tell us a little about that (if you want, you could mention the Mighty Moma and Rolling for Reading).
I founded the group basically because I was tired of being the only mom at the skatepark--the only mom on a board, I should say. There were thousands of female skaters in the 1970s, so it stands to reason that many of them are moms today. So that means there are potentially thousands of skateboard moms out there ready to come out of the closet. Or down the ramp. Or however you want to put it! It's really like the old "riding a bike" saying. You just get back on the thing and it's like you never stopped riding. Even 25 or 30 years later. I actually feel like I'm a much better, and even braver, skater now than I was when I was 12.
One thing I always do, without fail, is spend Mother's Day skateboarding. This (usually along with a new board) is my Mother's Day gift to myself! I usually start the day at a skatepark, then do some downhill somewhere, then head to another park and so on. My husband and son are welcome to come watch, but it's not a requirement. :-)
In any case, that's why I decided to do the Mighty Mama Skate-O-Rama, a celebration of skateboarding moms on Mother's Day. This year, it's Sunday May 9th at the Laguna Niguel skatepark in Southern California. It's open to all skaters, male or female, young or not-so-young. But the skateboarding moms will be out in force!
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