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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Now it's time for StoryCorps. Susan Barrientos spent nearly 16 years in what she called an abusive marriage. Recently, she came to StoryCorps with her daughter, Illya Mehrzai, to remember how a pair of roller skates helped get her through.
SUSAN BARRIENTOS: When you were little, I didn't know what side of Baba, your dad, I was going to get that day. So many times where I could have - I should have left - remember how many broken TVs, how many broken windows. And I used to take you upstairs, and I would sweep it 'cause I didn't want you to see it.
You won't remember this, but we were living in that little studio. We didn't have a lot of money. And so I got a job at an Islamic school, and I got my first paycheck. And that's when I bought the black roller skates with the purple pulse wheels because when I was, like, 5 years old, my mom takes me to Starlight Roller Rink, and they had one free class. I learned how to fall. I learned how to stay on my skates. And then that was it because she couldn't afford the classes.
ILLYA MEHRZAI: (Laughter).
BARRIENTOS: But I got so much crap for buying those skates. Your dad was like, oh, you have money to spend on skates? So I stopped. And when we moved from that little studio to another apartment, I kept my skates. We moved from there to the other apartment - kept my skates. Moved from there to Houston - we got rid of everything, but I kept my skates.
MEHRZAI: Why'd you keep them?
BARRIENTOS: I wanted to still hold on to the old me...
MEHRZAI: Yeah.
BARRIENTOS: ...Susan that was, like, funky Susan...
(LAUGHTER)
BARRIENTOS: ...You know, like, my old Susan full of hope. And when I was divorced, I took my skates out. And I didn't fall. It felt so, so good.
(LAUGHTER)
BARRIENTOS: And I felt, like, 13 or 14 again. You know, I wear a hijab, right? So I don't feel the wind in my hair very often.
(LAUGHTER)
BARRIENTOS: And when I skate, I feel the wind in my hijab. I'm gliding, and it feels, like, free.
MEHRZAI: I remember, you'd go, like, out late at night. The only thing I thought about it was, good for her, because you would light up just as much as those wheels would. I see those skates so much more differently now, you know? You went through a lot, and you're still able to be so bold, passionate and loud. (Crying) You're finally doing what you want. You're my first friend, and you're always going to be my last friend, no matter what.
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MARTIN: That was Susan Barrientos and her daughter, Illya Mehrzai, at StoryCorps in Dallas, Texas. Mehrzai has now inherited those black roller skates. Their conversation is archived at the Library of Congress.
(SOUNDBITE OF BLUE DOT SESSIONS' "LAKAL") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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