me vs. a mountainful of snow

Wow. We just got back from a full day in Maggie Valley, NC at Cataloochie Ski Resort. Yes, I skied. Yes, I was horrid. BUT, yes I got much better. Now I haven't skied in YEARS. And yes, they're writing a 3-part mini-series about my balance issues (with Catherine Zeta-Jones & Brad Pitt). So why not? I found out why not. I had a choice of the Beginner Slope or the Bunny Slope (really more of a field that KINDA slanted down)-- so having been a skier before the wreck, I chose the Beginner Slope. Whoops. Yeah, I fell... a FEW times (I counted, it was every 4.2 microseconds). And each fall was about 20 minutes of wrestling with my skis & boots to get back upright. And EVERY... SINGLE... TIME I would require help from a parent (or twice, friendly bypassers) to get back on my feet. There was MUCH wailing & gnashing of teeth. So first things first-- remove the 840 pounds of thick warm-- nay, hot-- protective clothing. I was getting so much of a heat stroke I had to just sit in the car for a while. Perhaps that's why I downed 2 whole bottles of water on top of a Coke.

So I moved to the Bunny Slope next. Still falling about 2-3 times per run and each taking FOR. EV. ER. and the help of others to fix. (Oh yeah, try as hard as I might, I couldn't loosen one of my own boots from the ski) Finally I had to go sit down while mom and dad got their ski legs back at their own pace. (Not getting to sleep last night until 3 AM didn't help either-- what, I was trying)

When I got to the bottom, I told mom & dad "I'd be happy if I never ski again in my life... ... ... except just one more." Might as well go out on a bang... so I went back to the Beginner Slope. And FOR THE FIRST TIME made it the whole way down wihout falling. And again the next time down. And again the next time down. Lesson learned.

Now walking back to the car after turning in the rentals, I learned a truth of the Universe: there's no difference between ski legs and sea legs.