Oh how i love ice skating.

Walking back through this place is like reliving my favorite dream, the one where your hand is my only warmth and your eyes my only comfort.

No one else around even matters.

My only focus is you.

The rink is filled with memories of us, frozen through the ice into time. All of our memories and old feelings are still echoing off the cold, white walls of this circular paradise.

The deep, burning contrast of then and now is enough angry heat to melt the hard rock ice we once stood on.

I am now alone.

Watching the old us, go around and around.

In my moment of chilly solitude I watched as couples held each other together.
And then i watched the people confident enough to skate alone hold themselves together.

And i couldn't decide who i would rather be.

After more observation, i realized that the single people held themselves up a whole lot better than any of the pairs could. Alone, they could stand their ground and skate with even a certain elegance, a beauty that only something strong can send off.

But then there was the other beauty, the one that was harder to watch and easier to envy. Every time she lost her balance, she desperately reached out for his hand and he would catch her. They laughed. She didn't look around out of embarrassment, she only looked towards him. And every time she would stagger, again he caught her and helped her get up and held her tighter the next go round.

So which is better? Being strong enough to stand on your own? Or allowing yourself to become weak in order to strengthen a bond with someone else?

Relationships make you weak as an individual, because you let down those walls. When you're alone, you depend on those walls to hold you up, make you strong, and to protect you from the hard fall that you know is waiting for you.

I was scared to fall when i was skating alone.

But I think I'm more scared that if i skate with someone, they will let me fall.