Skaters meet at a Work Retreat

We were three young project managers in the work group,
With 10 lift designers and 10 engineers
Altogether 23 of us from Genie International
In the Trust Circle of Connecticut work retreat.

Last year we did zip lines in July,
Jumping in cool water at the end of the line.
This year winter gloves guarded our hands,
And Trust Circle’s ice rink was open.

When Sheila pulled her private pair of ice skates
Out of a well worn bag and laced them up
And “Happy Birthday,” blasted from the speakers
Of the little rink, I clapped my hands and smiled.
“Nice axel!” I smiled. “And nice birthday-
Very nice - it’s also mine. January 23rd, 1999.”

Sheila glided across the ice, and I span before her
A fast scratch spin I hadn’t done in months.
She tried a Sasha Cohen style spiral, and I asked:
“When did you start?”
“2005,” she said. “When I was six.”
Her long dark hair gleamed and floated behind her,
And although we were both project managers
And the work team was stumbling in around us
With rental skates and falls,
It was more important in the moment that I was six too
When I started figure skating.