Yes or No...circle one

Last night I took my 9 yr old daughter and her friend to Roll On America for some good old-fashioned roller skating fun.  On the way, I listened to them talk.  "If L. is there, are you going to ask him to skate?"  "Ya."  "I'll give you $2 to ask him to skate."  "I don't have $2."  "$1?"  This continued until the rate became a quarter.  I had to giggle, remembering my own visits to the roller skating rink.

Will so-and-so be there?   Will he ask me to skate?  Should I ask him to skate when it's Ladies' Choice?  Will he hold my hand if we skate together?  I remembered being at the rink with my friends, all dressed in our tight Jordache jeans, scanning the crowd for our Ladies' Choice victims. And as soon as the beginning sounds of Total Eclipse of the Heart started playing, and the DJ announced, "Ladies' Choice", we would skate over to our choice and shyly (not really) ask, "Want to skate?"

Then I started sharing with the girls how we used to communicate in the past before texting and emailing took over the world to a time way back when you didn't call a boy after 9 PM because when you were calling him, you were calling his home phone, and you didn't dare wake his parents. You also had to be careful when leaving messages on the answering machine, because the answering machine was one that was played by hitting a "play" button, with your message sounding aloud for all in the near vicinity to hear.  There was no texting; you had to actually speak to say what you wanted.  You had to actually dial the phone number and ask to speak with the "boy of your dreams". And most times you had to ask this of one of his parents.

Then I asked if girls and boys still write notes to which they giggled and never answered. I assume that is a "yes".  I explained how our notes were quite simple:  Do you like me?  Yes or No (circle one).  My daughter responded, "What if the answer was maybe or a little?"  I said there wasn't a choice for that, it was yes or no.  She said I was kind of bossy for giving them directions like circle one. What can I say, honey?  Sometimes the boys Mommy liked needed it spelled out for them.  Her friend asked if the boys always circled yes, and I had to honestly answer no.  I told them of a time when I stepped up my game a little, and the note you see here had further instructions, such as "Leave the answer by the pencil sharpener."  So I passed the note and waited and waited.  Finally, the "boy of my dreams" went to sharpen his pencil, and when he left, I saw that he had left my triangular-folded note behind.  So I tried to suppress a smile and my excitement as I went to sharpen my own pencil and retrieve the note.  I was giddy as I raced back to my seat and slowly unfolded the note, only to read "Get off my case toilet face." Clearly this boy didn't realize he was supposed to ONLY circle yes or no, and a "no" would have sufficed because clearly I am still bitter over his response.

So L. wasn't there at roller skating, and there was no couples skate or Ladies' Choice, and no one owed anyone any money for their courage.  And there was no Total Eclipse of the Heart and no Thriller video played on the big screen and so...I didn't see the need to rent skates for myself.  Until....I saw the girls of Roller Derby practicing after our session, but that's a whole other blog.