We were hearing there was a good snowfall in the mountains on Wednesday. We had a couple inches of snow down on the front range plains. A couple of co-workers suggested it might be good to take off on Thursday and take advantage of all the new snow. While I was tempted, I was initially hesitant because it is not something I would ordinarily do to just take off and go ski. But that was the very impetus that caused me to go ahead and go... that I would not ordinarily do that.
My wife in the last several months has emphasized that we don't know when we may get another opportunity to do some things, and I have had to consider this along with my responsibilities. Early on I had to learn to put responsibility first and what I desired on a back burner, on hold until a more convenient time came along... the problem is that the more opportune, more convenient time sometimes does NOT come along. Now I am very blessed to have a good, pretty well-paying job that I enjoy, but it would seem that there is ALWAYS something pressing and that good time to get away really never comes. So with that in the back of my mind, I decided to go for it and take the day off and go skiing.
The roads up to the ski area were icy and travel was slow, but we arrived in decent time and got up on the slopes. We had agreed if we got split up we would meet up later in the day. The temperature was cold, about 15 degrees at the base, and probably between 0 and 5 degrees higher up on the mountain, but on a day like this one I can usually keep pretty warm if I just stay going. Therein was the difficulty. First run, we lost one of our compatriots. He wasn't lost really, but had to stop numerous times to to adjust his boots. So we waited and waited; probably about 15-20 minutes and he didn't show up. Hesitantly we decided to go on and catch up with him later. Most of the morning seemed to go like this. Hit the lift, ski down and wait for a while for one or the other to show up, repeat the process.
Now like I had stated earlier the day was cold, and it was pretty windy higher up on the mountains, so the waiting caused us to cool down - Way down! - and the wind only made it worse. We got so cold while waiting that we finally decided to hit the lodge for a while to warm up. Now anyone that knows me or has skied with me knows this is not something I will typically do; however it became quite necessary after waiting a long while for one of the guys that got down ahead of the two of us that were usually the first down. He went of on his own (and later admitted that the amount of time he waited probably wasn't all that long). Well, I figure that is just part of skiing with a group, so as the current saying goes, "It's all good."
One of the good things to come out of yesterday's trip is that I have found somebody that I can ski with that is about the same level skier as I am and we can challenge/push each other to keep going, which we did most of the day. Now my son skis well, and he and I have spent the most time skiing together over the last few years. But with him away at college and all too soon off on his own, our skiing time together has gotten pretty slim, so finding a new ski partner is a cool thing.
All in all, it was a pretty good and pretty enjoyable day and I'm glad I went.
And do you know what? Work got along without me for a day, and I still have all the same stuff to do as when I left.
;-D
5 comments:
you know, i've never been snow skiing. truth is, i'm much more athletic than my ex, so i steered away from stuff like this i would have been a lot better at.
been water skiing!
perhaps someday . . . but i'll have to get in great shape to overcome the clicking in my knees and ankles - oops, not me, of course - it's all in the stairs!!! ;)
sorry - i forgot to sign out of the covering and sign back into ame!
This might sound a bit odd, coming from your son and all... but I'm proud of you. Really. This is something I've been praying for you about for quite a while now. It's so easy to get so caught up in our responsibilities that we forget to live our lives and live them with joy and passion and go do the things we love. It's too easy to lose the adventure. As you noted, the work's not going anywhere. So while taking that time can sometimes require extra work of us elsewhere, and so forth, it can be well worth it. The trick, of course, is learning to balance our responsibilities with our moments of freedom. We need both.
As my pastor has pointed out in Men's Fraternity, our call as men is to "Accept Responsibility, Reject Passivity," and you've given me a good example of accepting responsibility. I was thinking, though, of the fact that rejecting passivity and being responsible can sometimes mean going and doing precisely what you did: having a fun time. We need that so that we can remain energized to go back and do our responsibilities.
Thanks, as always, for sharing your heart. I love you!
It was indeed a great deal of fun. I'll tell you about it when next we speak in person (well... sort of... via telephone rather than via text). I looked up said actress, and indeed Rachel does have a strong resemblance. It was a good night overall; and all the girls looked amazing.
As for the pink shirt... I'd have worn one, but I don't have any. ;)
Oh! I loved Footloose! Gosh, are we THAT old???!!! I remember seeing that in college - wasn't that just yesterday!!!!!
I'm impressed - you'd dance circles around me.
And we get to an age where our children just shake their heads and think, "it's just dad (mom)" - and all their friends roll their eyes in unison ;)
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