Ow!

It's really amazing, the things you learn from your kids.

Downhill skiing has always scared the jeepers out of me. I had visions of tumbling down the hill, breaking every bone in my body or freezing my feet until my toes fell off. Somehow, strapping two skinny boards to my feet and hurtling down a mountain out of control didn't really appeal to me. Gee -- I wonder why. (insert sarcasm here)

But Russ took me skiing about two years ago, because I finally got up enough nerve to try it. I enjoyed it, but I was very tense and afraid. I fell a lot. I got cold. But I did go up and down the bunny hill a few times without killing myself. That was a good thing. I guess I must have enjoyed it enough to try it again, because when he asked me to go this year I agreed.

I see how confident Russ is when he does certain things, like kneeboarding or skiing. He just jumps in and does things like that without even worrying about how badly he could hurt himself. I'm not like that. Why? Because I'm a big chicken, that's why. I don't want my kids to be afraid of trying new things, like I am. So I want them to try things when they are young -- so they don't know enough to be afraid.

So we went skiing yesterday at Table Mountain. And we took the kids with us.

We thought an afternoon would be enough. And I wanted everyone to take lessons, for safety's sake, you know. And I packed books & etc just in case the kids and I ended up in the lodge passing the time while Russ finished up playing around on the hill. But we were wrong.

After a few minutes of instruction, Russ took Curtis down the hill. He loved it. Then Russ took Renee down the hill. She loved it. After the first time down the hill, Renee was off on her own, up and down as fast as she could. Curtis went up and down too -- he only needed help when he fell down, which was not too often. By the end of the afternoon, with only one snack and bathroom break for all of us, Renee was tucking to get more speed and she hadn't fell down even once. Curtis was starting to control his skis so he could turn at the bottom of the hill.

And, honestly, I had so much fun watching them that I forgot to be afraid. I loosened up and really felt in control down the hill. I didn't fall down. I didn't break any bones. I actually enjoyed it -- and can't wait to go again! If a 7-year-old can handle downhill skiing, so can I. And I did handle it, thanks to the inspiration of my two young peanuts.

Here's a pic of my three skiiers at the top of the hill at Table Mountain:

One more thing I did learn? Ouch! I have muscles in my legs, and they are used while skiing. It'll take a few days for the soreness to wear off. But it was worth it!