Ice Skating on the Frozen Pond

This January, it was cold enough for long enough that the pond in our town park froze solid for the first time in years. The fire department tested the ice and declared it safe.

The whole town showed up. Kids in hockey skates, old people in figure skates from the 1970s, parents pulling toddlers on sleds. Someone lit a fire in a barrel at the edge. Someone else brought a big thermos of cocoa and a stack of paper cups.

I hadn't skated since I was a teenager. I wobbled around the edge holding hands with my ten-year-old, who was teaching me. An older man skated past us backwards, doing a spin, and the kids cheered.

The ice lasted nine days. We went every evening. When it finally melted, my daughter was heartbroken. "Next winter," I told her. We've already bought her new skates.