Passed the WFTDA test...Vice Quads here we come!

There have only been a few cherished moments in my life when I have been fortunate enough to enjoy this feeling. That swooning smile that starts somewhere mid-thigh, flips your stomach over like a really good kiss then travels upward, making your sternum melt and your heart sing, tickles your neck, then continuing to defy gravity finally spreads across your mouth, bunching your cheeks up into your ears and electrifies your scalp, making your eyes twinkle and eventually water from the breathtaking happiness you feel.

That is my night last night. And my whole day today. Honestly I don't even know where to begin this blog entry, I so desperately want to capture the vastness of experience and emotion in words. Not to sound cliched, but it was life changing, from start to finish. Seriously. The company and camaraderie I shared last night was extraordinary, the stuff of absolute greatness and buoyancy of spirit that sweeps you up, carries you along, and just an amazing amount of fun. I feel like throughout my life I have spent a ton of time famished for an activity that blends this athleticism, strategy, teamwork, quirkiness, and awesome socks and I am so totally excited to finally participate in this sport. To reiterate, I have wanted to do derby for 20 years, from the moment I saw it on TV when I was 19 or 20 years old. There has always been something else dominating my time or a lack of a league until about 9 weeks ago.

So, let's just pick a place, and trust that my inevitable meandering will eventually somehow cover the entirety of the experience. See that 4 on my arm? I don't want to ever wash it off, I am so completely proud of it. As I was skating my 25 in 5 minutes (which somehow I did in 4.23!!!!!!) I had flashes of me on the left up there, the 5 year old with the Fonzie shirt, polyester bell bottoms my mom made, awesome red Bruce Jenner sneakers and strap on, adjustable metal skates. I could smell the fresh cut grass, feel the very bumpy concrete driveway rattling my skates and the wind of that breezy spring day my dad took that photo after he finished mowing the grass. I can actually remember what shirt he had on and I was thinking all this as I skated my laps. I love how a song or in this case an activity can span time and teleport you right back to a very specific moment of your life and allow you to sense all the details. If you haven't noticed, I'm a sucker for the details, addicted to the fullness of the moment our senses offer if we are open to them.

Here's a few details about the test. A couple of us were joking that even though they were branded in black marker on our arms we couldn't remember our numbers we were so nervous. I literally had to look at my arm to know my number and remind myself to breathe a few times. My heart was slamming against my sternum before I even started skating. We got through it as a team, reminding each other that we had done all of the required minimum skills about a billion times in all our practices, encouraging each other to stay positive. What an amazing, funny, powerful collection of women. I am so thrilled to be in their company. Here we are, the new Twin City Derby Girls Vice Quads:

Now, it is certainly not every day that you pass the test to join a derby team. The momentous occasion could not possibly be complete without celebratory drinks and much revelry. Had I known after parties were this much fun I would have found a way to do this 20 years ago. I am seriously berating myself for all the years I have been deprived.

We descended with our adrenaline boosted excitement and 2 hours worth of sweat on Senator's Pub, the closest bar besides an Applebee's (which I can't say even in my head without the slight giggle John Corbett always has in his voice when he does the voiceover for all those commercials with the very shiny food when he is pimping the "2 for $20" or "Ultimate Trios" ). Senator's is an Inn/Wellness Center/Pub.The bartender was a very nice, older, wirey, bespectacled guy who probably holds the award for slowest/most nearsighted bartender on earth. The most effective tactic we found to catch his attention was standing on the ledge under the bar and waving both of our arms in the air like a drowning person. Eventually drinks were in hand, we were seated at the bar and a few tables and then in the blink of an eye the whole place transformed into Webster Hall. I looked up from the "I am having one drink and coming home" text I sent Alan and some guy is on the microphone saying something about derby girls beating each other up and perhaps the bartender too and the next thing I know I am drawn off my seat by the music, having krumping dance offs and spilling people's beers with my dramatic movement stylings.

Somewhere after the shot of tequila in the midst of the dance floor (which was not officially a dance floor but more like a 6 ft square space in between the tables) there was a 3 way push up/bicep competition bizarrely reminiscent of Jack Palance on the Oscars between 2 of my derby sisters and a very brave man who kept encouraging us to punch his abs and telling us he was 50, a search on hands and knees with phone flashlights for a lost earring, and one of the girls reaching behind a huge neon sign to open the window and get some ventilation going. I should point out that as you can see from the photo, Senator's is not a very big space, and the clientele seems to me to be of a fairly mellow breed. Our combined energies and the Ke$ha were so over the top that the whole bar just swelled, and for me looking around at the bemused, surprisingly tolerant expressions of the other non-derby patrons just added to the total scene, making it all the more priceless. I haven't had this amount of fun in a very long time, and I am still relishing my derby high and smiling a day and a half later.

I have to mention that November 15, the day of the test was also the 1 year anniversary of the day we brought Oona home from the hospital, on an unseasonably warm and vibrantly golden fall day. The house was cozy and smelled amazingly of roasting pork and root vegetables, (thanks to my wonderful mother-in-law) just the kind of scent you want after several days in the hospital. Although we had been through it just a year and a half prior with Aldo we were balancing multiple emotions: joy, excitement, panic, terror, exhaustion. It's bonkers how fast this past year flew by, how different I am. We settled into my beautiful toile sofa (my prized and very cherished possession, haven when things get hectic and also the first place we went when we brought Aldo home) and began our life as a multiple child family. We were slightly cocky due to Aldo being such a golden boy and relatively easy baby. Boy, were we in for a bumpy and high decibel but mostly joyful ride led by this feisty, spunk-filled future derby girl.

I love that these two very important events share the same day. As I get older and closer to senility it will make the task of remembering them less of a strain on my feeble mind.... Ok, all joking aside, both these experiences are HUGE starting points for me, the initiations of exciting and beautiful journeys for me to  savor, enjoy, grow and learn volumes from. As I begin my derby life I am feeling a lot of the same emotions I had that day last year, just home from the hospital and catapulted into a new chapter of my life. I'm super super psyched to see where my skates and my team take me.