Happy Birthday to Me, Part 3

Growing up, I was almost always at the rink on my birthday. We'd be in the throes of summer session, during which we'd have two-three freestyles a day plus a power stroking class. My mom would usually send me with cupcakes on that day to share with my fellow skaters, many of whom also had birthdays around mine. 

And I would always get a special present from my fellow skaters. 

It was tradition, I was told, but I haven't been able to confirm where it started or who started it. It was a fact, that on your birthday, at the end of a skating session, you were mobbed by fellow skaters and coaches at one end of the ice. They made you sit down on the ice and dragged you by your skate blades across the rink to the other side. Then, they took your skates off, and made you walk all the way back to the rink door barefoot.

It would seem like a cruel tradition to outsiders, but to us skaters, it was a badge of honor. I wish I had a photo, but I don't think anyone ever took one. I was not at the rink on my birthday this year, but I think of the tradition every year.