Skating with Ibrahim

A day of beautiful memories and perseverance

MARYAN ALI

Maryan and son Ibrahim found balance together on the ice of a local skating rink. | Supplied.

It was Sunday morning January 18, 2026, when I first went back on the ice after many years. I admit I was afraid.

My Sunday mornings always start with my son Ibrahim waking me up. He says “Hooyo (meaning ‘mom’ in Somali), wake up.” And I always reply, “What time is it?” He tells me the time and I always say I will wake up in 30 minutes .

Sometimes he stays with me in bed and other times he gets his morning routine done.

After 30 minutes, I told him today we would go skating. I need to go outside and check the weather. If it’s not too cold we will go. He jumped off the bed and ran outside to check the weather. He saw that the weather was amazing to skate. He was so happy.

I made chocolate and blueberry pancakes. We ate quickly and walked to our community rink.

On our way to the rink, Ibrahim’s face was full of excitement. He had a big smile like a moon. I helped him put his skates on and he asked me if I was putting my skates on too. I told him no: “I helped you and once you find your balance I will put on my skates.”

Oh boy! He found his balance within five minutes. He asked me to put my skates on. I said not yet, because I wanted to make sure I was able to help him if he needed me.

My plan was really not to skate because I had not done it for a long time and I really don’t know how to skate that much. Also, I was only going there to take him. But he didn’t know that. And he had been asking me to take him skating since the snow fell to the ground. I would say yes, we would go skating, but never really put a time or a date on it. Ibrahim said, “Oh please, please, Hooyo. Put on your skates.”

Of course I have a hard time saying no to Ibrahim sometimes. I finally put my skates on. The minute I took my first steps on the ice I wanted to get off. I was so scared. I had so many thoughts coming to my mind. “You will fall and break a leg,” I thought. There were so many negative things running in my mind.

As I was about to sit back and take my skates off, I said to myself, “If you do this, you are not teaching Ibrahim anything good.”

Also Ibrahim was saying to me, “Don’t take the stakes off. You can do it, Hooyo. I will help you find your balance.” And he sure did. His words meant a lot and he held my hands.

We skated together for about an hour and had a fun time. We even played his favourite sport which is soccer, but we called it ice soccer because we used a hockey puck. And, of course, he won. The score was 2-0. After we were done, I was so proud of myself and of Ibrahim for believing in me and pushing me to put my skates on.

Maryan works and volunteers in Norwood and surrounding neighbourhoods.