Kyla Hastie developed her figure skating prowess in the United Arab Emirates about 30 years ago.

Her father worked in the oil industry and, for half a year when she was 13, her family traded their home in Huntsville, Texas for a high-rise in Dubai.

Outside, it was mostly hot and dry, but the building’s first floor featured a bona fide skating rink.

“I skated every single day for about the six months we lived there,” says Hastie, now 48. “After school, there was really nothing else for me to do.”

Then her family moved back to Texas. “I was heartbroken that we didn’t have a rink anywhere near us,” Hastie says. “I didn’t skate again for 30 years.”

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