I was at my good friend Mikayla’s house one of the first times I rode a skateboard. We were sitting in her garage one summer, like we always do, and I just took one of her many skateboards and stood on it, using the greasy and grimy workbench as balance. I was really scared of the skateboard rolling out from under me the whole time, this being one of the reasons I haven’t tried to do it before. The only reason I wanted to try it was because it seemed like I was the only person at school that didn’t know how to ride a skateboard, and that was pretty embarrassing for me. All my friends knew about this fear too. They thought it was funny. One time they picked me up, forced me on a skateboard, and rolled me through the hallways all laughing while I was crying.

This day I was going to conquer my fear. I went out onto the street and made Mikayla hold my hands while we made the short and tiny neighbor girl, Paige, push me. I just kept think of how much I hated the buzzing feeling on my feet as the wheels of the skateboard moved across the choppy pavement. I still hate it to this day. We went back and forth on her street for hours. It was a failed attempt to try to teach me how to skateboard but Mikayla and Paige never got frustrated with me. One time they pushed me really hard and let me roll by myself while Mikayla was yelling things like, “Bend your knees,” or “Lean forward.” All the yelling did nothing. I still ended up hitting a bump and tripping over myself, falling onto the ground hard. Mikayla and Paige laughed pretty hard at me; luckily, I wasn’t in too much pain and got up to try again.

I never got very fast and as much as I tried I never could do it without Mikayla’s help that day, but I never gave up and to this day I’m still trying to do it without falling off.