Perhaps I should explain. When I was a young elementary school kid, I was not the most...athletic. I was a summer swimmer, but otherwise found myself afraid of the ball, stopping to tie my shoes during the mile run, and hopefully unable to climb the Tarzan rope. Living in New England in my early years, I had the added element of winter-weather sporty activities such as skiing and skating. Our elementary school had an after-school ski program, where every Monday we would ride a hurtling bus up to the local mountain for an afternoon or lessons, watery hot chocolate, and terror inducing runs down the hill.
If I close my eyes and picture my 9 year old self, the vision is mostly taken up by a very large and very puffy pink red coat that my friends nicknamed the Tomato. The Tomato did not allow for much agility on an already un-agile body. It was in the Tomato that I had two near-death ski lift incidents at a young age...one involving the POMA T-Bar lift, and a second involving a regular chair lift. With the POMA lift, the Tomato got tangled in the TBar and at the "peak" of the Bunny hill I began to soar up into the trees instead of alighting on the hill's crest. The stoner POMA operator had to respond to my shouts in order to untangle me from the tree and the lift respectively. The next year I had an unfortunate tumble from the chairlift landing "runway" into the cargo emergency net below, where my ski snapped and then I had to walk down the mountain on foot after a 20 minute extrication, trudging in the Tomato with my mangled skis under my arm.
Needless to say, I gave up skiing shortly after these incidents. This year, many miles and the Tomato behind me, Hubs and I decided to try out skiing (he had never done it before). And would you believe, when you have 20 years of balance, a more streamlined jacket, and a positive outlook--skiing is a blast! We just got back from our second ski weekend of 2009 and spent the day on Saturday trying to improve and gasping at the gorgeous vistas. Where else can you get a view like this?
It is so beautiful to be outside, under the blue sky, getting exercise and fresh air, and feel like you are rediscovering a great hobby. Don't get me wrong--I know I am JUST relearning and JUST getting started...but Skiing 20 years later--who knew?
Have you discovered any new hobbies later in life? Anyone else like skiing? Any ideas on how to keep up with new hobbies?
YES! We ski/snowbaoard every weekend, here in MA. I also returned to the sport after about 20 years when introducing my kids to the fun of the mountain. Love your blog!
ReplyDeleteI had a bad ski incident when I was young, also. Fell off the ski lift when I was about 7 years old. Guess it was the weight of the skiis + my clumsiness + my mom not paying attention. At least there was a nice mud puddle about 10 feet below. Wasn't injured but haven't been skiing since! Good for you getting back on the slopes :)
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