Last night I went to visit two old friends who I hadn't seen for five years! I believe it is a sign of true friendship when you can see someone after so much time has passed and feel like you never skipped a beat.

Charles and Curtis used to live in my apartment building, but bought their own place in 2000. At the time, I was so caught up in the skipping whirlwind that we didn't stay in touch when they first moved...and before we knew it five years had passed.

It was great to be able to catch them up on all that has happened in my life and the skipping adventure. It helped me get perspective on all that I have been through and all that I have learned along the way. We reminisced about the iskip glory days...about how it was a quite a phenomenon back in the dot com hay day ...about how the path hasn't ended up looking anything like I first expected it to....and about how I am proud to still be skipping through it all!

Charles was one of my first friends when I moved to San Francisco from Indiana ...and he is definitely not a Skipper type. Last night I got some insight into why that might be. He told me his skipping story for the first time.

When he was in second grade, his Mom got called into the school office because he was having a hard time mastering skipping and galloping. So after that, he and his Mom started practicing skipping together until he got it down. When I asked him if it felt great when he finally mastered it, he said it felt great to not be the only one who couldn't skip anymore!

I've met several people throughout the skipping adventure with stories similar to Charles'. People who were singled out in Kindergarten or elementary school for not being able to skip. Usually those people want nothing to do with skipping as adults, and I can understand why!! Since skipping is such a joyful thing, it makes me sad that little kids have to feel less than if they are slow on the skipping uptake!

There was a time when the skipping movement first started that I thought that everyone should love skipping as much as I do...But I quickly learned that skipping isn't for everyone. Back when we did group skips through the streets of San Francisco, I used to carry a meagphone to explain to people why we were skipping. What I said did a good job of sharing my realization that skipping isn't for everyone...and what I feel my big picture skipping mission is.....

"We are skipping activists who believe the world will be a much better place when skipping becomes an acceptable thing for adults to do. We don't ask that you skip, just that you are supportive of those of us who love to. Thank you and Skip on!"