Footloose and fancy free...

Is what I feel like saying after the first week with our new president. It just feels a little more relaxed and a little more like we can breath a collective sigh of relief as opposed to waiting on pins and needles for the next dumb thing to happen. The mania of Tuesday carried me through the rest of the week - a rather intense week - which was wearing me down. And then I started to realize that I could be fighting the plague that seemed to be going around - which will cause you to slow way down. Who wants to be sick if you can prevent it.

Tonight I went to the Seattle Derby Brats & Tootsie Roller's awards ceremony (like our prom). It was at a super swanky studio in the neighborhood right next door to mine - Fremont. Lara was spinning, my friend Audrey was there (as her daughter is a brat) and a few other Jet City Skaters. It was really quite fun. They had an award for every skater. And they are just young girls. The Tootsie Rollers ranging from 6-10 and the Brats 10ish - 16 (which is a huge difference in age and development.) But it was awesome to be at a sport for a women's sport that is not man's sport that women do but truly a sport being created, crafted and regulated by women. It was awesome to see the mentorship of older skaters (from both Rat City & Jet City) and the younger skaters - even the Brats as mentors to the Tootsies - on the rink - on the dance floor.

I was talking to one of the Brat's grandfather (whose daughter is on my league and we sit together on the same bus.) He was talking about how great this sport is and how all these young women have stories and they all stick together. Once in derby, always in derby. He couldn't be more proud to be a part of it (and with three grown kids, he's been a part of many things.) He said when people ask him why men's derby (merby) hasn't taken off yet, he tells people it's because men aren't interested in learning the rules but just want to knock the crap out each other (and you need the rules to win.) I told him Merby hadn't taken off people really, men just aren't as cute in short skirts.