When we were kids, all of us at High Ridge Ice Arena dreamed of going to the Olympics. Our idols included skaters like Sasha Cohen, Tara Lipinski, and Scott Hamilton. We sported our club jackets with pride down the hallways of our schools and right into our afternoon lessons.

The rink not only served as a hub for our training but also as the epicenter of our social lives. We had non-skating friends but nothing quite compared to the bonds that evolved on the ice.

As we spent a vast amount of time practicing, our parents spent that same amount of time watching us and building friendships of their own. It wasn’t long before we were all having sleepovers, attending each others birthday parties, and going on group outings.

When our skills began to grow, our friends became our competitors, but tensions never seemed to rise. When we took the ice we always had a herd of people cheering us on no matter who else was in our division. When we took to the podium to receive our medals, those same people were there to greet us with smiles, hugs, and congratulations.

Even though many of us were very young it would have been almost impossible not to notice how loving and supportive our rink family was. Parents of others tied our skates, our coaches offered us encouragement, and we the skaters fostered and cultivated a positive and fun environment- which made our rink feel more like a home.

The only sad memory most of us have together was the night we all took to the High Ridge ice one last time- before the rink shut its doors permanently. We said goodbye to the owners and everyone we had grown up with, some we would never see again. As we left we took with us memories of countless showcases, hours of off ice training, and all of the confidence the sport instilled in each of us.

Over the years, many of us turned in our ice skates for things like pompoms, instruments, weights, etc. When those shifts occurred our dreams turned into could-have-beens and what-ifs, and our only link to the sport became our in-depth commentaries any time we managed to catch a competition on TV.

Now, when we run into one another a bittersweet nostalgia fills the air around us. Our conversations are pelted with remember-whens and I-miss-its. When the small talk ends and partings are in order, it brings back a taste of one of the most special times of our lives and the rink that made all the difference.