In Which Connor Finally Goes To Sleep And I Skate A Bunch

I just got back from my latest roller derby practice.  Connor is (thank goodness!) asleep, so hopefully we're past the worst of this lovely medication-induced insomnia.  I'm really glad that he's getting more shut-eye because I was beginning to worry about him.  There's only so many days you can run on four hours of sleep without having some issues.  Also this means I get to sleep now too, which makes me extremely grateful as I was starting to get a little incoherent. 

Connor had a great day today, even though he took out his hearing aids in the car before school and I didn't discover them until I almost ran them over with the wheelchair while putting him back in the car, which would not have been pretty.  That thing is heavy- especially when it's got an oxygen tank on board.  At any rate he made out okay at school without them though, and I'll just have to remember next time to attach them to his shirt and not his new winter vest.  It's made out of that slick waterproof material and apparently he's able to get the clip off pretty easily. 

While Connor was at school today I got another massage-- luxurious, I know!  Trust me when I say that I badly needed it, though.  Also these are medical massages, which are not necessarily the most relaxing things in the world-- especially when Joanna does that thing where she jams a couple of fingers into my armpit.  Ow.

They do, however, make my neck and back feel a lot better, even if they are a little uncomfortable at the time.  That lady knows what she's doing!

Then this evening of course I promptly went and negated all the time and effort she'd put into getting me loosened up again by falling repeatedly on all the parts she'd worked on.  I'm still having a blast at derby though, even if I have a ton of new bruises to show for it!  I think all of the extra skating I've been doing is finally starting to pay off.  It used to be that I was exhausted thirty minutes into our two-hour practice, but now I feel like I have a lot more energy and I'm not getting left behind anymore when we're supposed to be skating fast.  That's not to say that I don't still have a long way to go before I'll be ready to actually play in a bout, but I feel like I've really improved since I started.  Of course, when I started I couldn't skate more than six feet without falling down, so that probably isn't saying much.  But I find myself really looking forward to being able to put on my skates every day, and I'm still just as much in love with this sport as I was the night I discovered it. 

I think one of the best parts is getting to skate with such an awesome group of girls.  We compare bruises, swap stories about our personal lives, encourage and pick each other up, and then beat the everliving crud out of each other on the track. 

It makes for some odd friendships, maybe, but it's a heck of a lot of fun!

~Jess