When I was a teenager in the '90s, my boyfriend at the time gave me his old skateboard.

The trucks and wheels were fine, but the deck was heavily used and the design had been scraped off most of the bottom, so I took some paint markers and decorated it by painting a black and white checkerboard background with a large stormtrooper head in the foreground because Star Wars and ska were two of my favorite things at the time.

I was mostly just a poser and barely rode it and it remained in the back of my car for several years until I was at a sporting goods store and saw a kid doing tricks on a demo deck and I told him he was really good and he said "Thanks! I have to practice here because I don’t have a skateboard."

At that moment, I remembered my backseat skateboard and told him he could have it, but warned him that the "graphic" was kind of nerdy so he was more than welcome to draw/paint over it.

I went out to my car and grabbed the skateboard and brought it to the front of the store where the kid was waiting and he flipped it over and said "Whoa! Star Wars and ska?!? These are two of my favorite things!"

I’m so glad that skateboard finally found the right owner.

@Alice That's absolutely wholesome !
@Alice Neeerdz (appreciative) 💜

@Alice

Now, I cannot get the image of two storm troopers as the famous ska girl and ska guy out of my head...

Thank you!

@Alice Skate finds a way.

@Alice

In Santa Cruz, around 1980, my little sister and I got matching checkered Steve Olson's one Christmas. There was a Van's store where you could get custom stuff made. I got a pair of discounted mid-tops (custom order someone never picked up) that had alternating checkers on the fabric and even the edge of the soles. Checkers were very hot. You knew what was up.

We were more commuters than poseurs.

@Alice this is the best story!
@Alice okay so this is absolutely rad for a billion reasons.

@Alice

What a great story. Thank you so much for sharing it! ❤️

@Alice if love were characters i would not be able to fit how much i love this inside my server's limit for one toot.

@Alice

This is a great story!

@Alice *has to wipe a tear* thank you, that's just perfect
@Alice That’s cool! After he was done riding it did he pick it up, pick it up, pick it up?
@Alice that's beautiful, I love when we are the stewards of an item so it can find where it's meant to go ❤
@Alice The kids are alright (Goldfinger)
@Alice i love this, thanks.
@Alice 10 karma points were credited to your account. You can cash them in for a variety of benefits in the Next World when your expiry date comes.
@Alice And that young kid? Tony Hawks, 1972.

@Alice

Thanks for this post and what you did at that time. :)

You reminded me a moment with my friends where we wanted to make a party with a theme.

Star Wars for some, ska for the others.

So it became Ska Wars.

With Luke Skawalker, Princess Leiska, Ska Vador, Chewbaska, Ska Solo, Master Yoska, Obiwan Skanobi...

Now I have a smile for the evening.

So, thanks again. :)

@LeSapinSobre Love this! I remember AOL ska chat in the '90s was full of those screen names!

@LeSapinSobre @Alice Well, well.
Luke the Skullbreaker started playing in my head :)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOpONQmwI_M

luke the skullbreaker

YouTube
@Alice "…and that boy was Tony Hawk."
@Alice I needed this story after having a rough week. Thank you !

@Alice

I'm not crying, *you're* crying!

😭

@Alice a pic of the skateboard would have been great! But no biggie.. better to gift it to someone that uses it!

@Alice excellent in the most rewarding way! 🙃

That kid might tell the story of how he got the perfect skateboard at the perfect time.🙃