Because we were in New England, and it was often cold and snowy in the winter, sledding, ice skating, and snowball fights were a common activity. We had an extremely long sled run from our house down to the fence at Route 140. We would ride sleds, toboggans, saucers, and even flattened boxes. We also used to pelt cars with snowballs along the highway. Once in a while we would skate at Mill Pond or Kiwanis Lake as a family, but normally we boys skated at our local waterhole we called Frogless Pond, which was probably a mile from our house. I don’t know why we called it that, because most of the year it held plenty of frogs and tadpoles for us to catch and torment. One day we all decided to go ice skating and there were a couple of local older girls who were going to join us. I was about six at the time. One of the girls, who was wearing figure skates with blade protectors, mentioned that you can walk with your skates on, you don’t need to carry your shoes, and it strengthens your calves. I had no idea what a calf was, but I was determined to make mine strong. So I thought it was a good idea. So after I was done skating, rather than put my shoes back on, I decided to walk back home on my hockey skates. Bad idea! My brothers and the girls went on ahead with my shoes while I struggled to walk home. After they got home, apparently my parents asked my brothers where I was. They gave them the lowdown, and my father ran up Wood Street in the freezing snow to find me crying along the side of the road barely able to take another step. He picked me up and carried me home. It felt good to get those skates off, sit by the radiator, have some hot chocolate, and rest those calves.

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