Rollin'

This post doesn't involve our kids, and it doesn't have any pics of them-- so enjoy the break from our narcissism while you can.

Grammy took care of the kids last night so we could enjoy a night out with Tiffany and her date, Mark. We had the best sushi in Memphis at Sakura, for what I think is about the 9th time in three months. It's funny, Steph and I look forward to having Sakura sushi all week, and we're both giddy on Saturdays because we know it's imminent. It's the little things in life, you know.

We're dorks.

After that, it was on to the second bout of the Memphis Roller Derby, which we were really looking forward to. The Legion of Zoom (Stacey's, I mean, Smashimi's team) was up against the PrissKilla Prezleys, at some skating rink way the hell out in Collierville. There was much pomp as the girls took the rink-- complete with a strip-reveal of the LoZ's super-sweet uniforms. It was very surreal-- there we are-- in person-- to watch a roller derby bout. The girls had awesome names-- Angelina Rolie, Smackie Chan, Steelia Thunder, etc. It took me an hour or so to figure out what I was looking at. At first it looked like a bunch of girls-- well, women actually, skating around in a circle, randomly knocking the hell out of each other. Then I realized that there was a madness to their method, or something like that. Stacey, who is captain of the Legion of Zoom, was simply kicking ass and taking names. It wasn't that different from when I used to watch her do the same thing on the soccer field, in high school. Unfortunately, the LoZ was getting stomped.

Near the end of the bout, late in the 3rd period, things really went downhill for me. Stacey took a really hard, weird fall, and didn't pop right back up. See, one thing that impressed me the about these girls is that they fall very hard and very often, but they spring right up and keep on skating. Especially Stacey-- she's as tough as they come. This time, she stayed on the floor, repeatedly dropping f-bombs and pounding the floor. We knew it wasn't good.

This really hit me in a weird way-- I almost hurled right there. Stacey's injury wasn't Joe-Theisman-gruesome or anything, at least that I could see--but it was obviously devastating. They called Warren (or "Mr. Smashimi" as they called him) to the rink, and the medical folks attended to her. When I say "medical folks," I mean the chick with the quasi-EMT jacket, who very astutely wrapped her ankle when she had obviously broken the holy crap out of her leg.

The teams finished the bout after the delay, but no one was into it. Stacey was obviously upset and in serious pain. We were kind of at a loss for words, and we couldn't get to Stacey, so we said our goodbyes and left. As we were pulling out of the parking lot, the ambulance was pulling in, with sirens blaring.

Derby obviously means a lot to Stacey (see her article about it here), and I think that's why it was so hard to watch that happen, especially on the first bout of the season. It's been a cool outlet for her, and for all of those women-- mommas, young hipsters, career women of all shapes, sizes and ages. The confidence and complete lack of self-consciousness of the girls was remarkable. And Stacey was obviously good-- she was captain of her team, and the team did much better when she was on the floor. I guess the nausea I felt was as much for Stacey's disappointment as for her physical pain.

I got a text from Stacey this morning-- broken tibia AND fibula, surgery this afternoon. Ouch.

Rock on, Smashimi, and I hope you roll again.