Thursday, March 08, 2007
Who Woulda Thunk?
I like to ski!
Yesterday I received my belated Christmas gift from Jax - a ski lesson. Although the conditions were variable, I picked him up at 3pm, along with his friends Maggie and Sydney, and all four of us made our way up Grouse Mountain. I was so nervous driving there that I could barely speak. And you know when I am at a loss for words that something big is happening.
The renting and putting on of all the gear was really the worst part. I mean, have you put ski boots on lately? They are god awful if you aren't used to them and then they expect to clomp around in the ridiculous things, knees perpetually bent, sweating profusely in your eighty tons of winter wear, all the while trying to give off the look of utter calm. I was thoroughly exhausted before I had even snapped those dangerous looking sticks to the bottom of my feet. But really, like Jax said last night, it was all down hill from there...
Meaning, once the skis were on and my wonderful teacher had me safe in the land of bunny hills and tow ropes, it all unfolded pretty naturally. He would show me, I would copy and BOOM...I was skiing! Ok, so I wasn't really skiing as much I was not falling, but WOW, it felt great. Two times down the bunny hill and my proud boyfriend grinned his lopesided grin at me and declared - I think we're ready for The Cut.
Immediately, I thought back to being nine and the nightmare that was my first attempt at skiing. I CAN DO THIS, I thought to myself. "Are you sure?" I asked Jax. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure," he assured me with his cute British accent, "you're ready." And putting all memories out of my mind (because as we all know the past is the past and only the Now counts) I clomped on over to The Cut. Conditions were still crappy, but I figure the zero visibility was a blessing. It meant I couldn't see the hill I was about to go down. All I could do was concencrate on exactly what was in front of me, or under me, which was hopefully my skiis. Leading the way, Mr. Atkinson slowly and patiently took me down, shouting words of wisdom over his shoulder. Every now and then, when we came to a complete stop so that I could collect myself, he would sort of awkwardly make his way back up to me and give me plenty of hugs and kisses and affirmations. It was glorious. I was skiing! And I wasn't half bad!
Then the chair lift....ahhhh, the chair lift. Better than the tow rope. Vancouver city below us, snow falling down around us, nestled in pine trees and my head on his shoulder, I was happy and in love and dispelling a myth. KJ Konkin can ski. KJ Konkin will ski. Next winter. I can't wait!
Second time down The Cut, I improved ten fold and by the end of the night I was more skiing with Jax than always just following him. Both of us climbed into the car grinning from ear to ear with pride. I think he was proud of his student and I was pleased that I had made my teacher proud. Proud that I had rewritten an age old story about myself. Excited that I had potentially opened up a whole new world for myself as a BC resident.
Skiing.
Fun.
Today, I can barely walk and tomorrow I am sure to be immobilized. Yeehaw!
Next on the list - running.
In the words of Lou Brock:
"Show me a guy whos afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time."
In the words of KJ Konkin:
Give yourself permission to potentially suck and magic can occur.
Yesterday I received my belated Christmas gift from Jax - a ski lesson. Although the conditions were variable, I picked him up at 3pm, along with his friends Maggie and Sydney, and all four of us made our way up Grouse Mountain. I was so nervous driving there that I could barely speak. And you know when I am at a loss for words that something big is happening.
The renting and putting on of all the gear was really the worst part. I mean, have you put ski boots on lately? They are god awful if you aren't used to them and then they expect to clomp around in the ridiculous things, knees perpetually bent, sweating profusely in your eighty tons of winter wear, all the while trying to give off the look of utter calm. I was thoroughly exhausted before I had even snapped those dangerous looking sticks to the bottom of my feet. But really, like Jax said last night, it was all down hill from there...
Meaning, once the skis were on and my wonderful teacher had me safe in the land of bunny hills and tow ropes, it all unfolded pretty naturally. He would show me, I would copy and BOOM...I was skiing! Ok, so I wasn't really skiing as much I was not falling, but WOW, it felt great. Two times down the bunny hill and my proud boyfriend grinned his lopesided grin at me and declared - I think we're ready for The Cut.
Immediately, I thought back to being nine and the nightmare that was my first attempt at skiing. I CAN DO THIS, I thought to myself. "Are you sure?" I asked Jax. "Yeah, yeah, I'm sure," he assured me with his cute British accent, "you're ready." And putting all memories out of my mind (because as we all know the past is the past and only the Now counts) I clomped on over to The Cut. Conditions were still crappy, but I figure the zero visibility was a blessing. It meant I couldn't see the hill I was about to go down. All I could do was concencrate on exactly what was in front of me, or under me, which was hopefully my skiis. Leading the way, Mr. Atkinson slowly and patiently took me down, shouting words of wisdom over his shoulder. Every now and then, when we came to a complete stop so that I could collect myself, he would sort of awkwardly make his way back up to me and give me plenty of hugs and kisses and affirmations. It was glorious. I was skiing! And I wasn't half bad!
Then the chair lift....ahhhh, the chair lift. Better than the tow rope. Vancouver city below us, snow falling down around us, nestled in pine trees and my head on his shoulder, I was happy and in love and dispelling a myth. KJ Konkin can ski. KJ Konkin will ski. Next winter. I can't wait!
Second time down The Cut, I improved ten fold and by the end of the night I was more skiing with Jax than always just following him. Both of us climbed into the car grinning from ear to ear with pride. I think he was proud of his student and I was pleased that I had made my teacher proud. Proud that I had rewritten an age old story about myself. Excited that I had potentially opened up a whole new world for myself as a BC resident.
Skiing.
Fun.
Today, I can barely walk and tomorrow I am sure to be immobilized. Yeehaw!
Next on the list - running.
In the words of Lou Brock:
"Show me a guy whos afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time."
In the words of KJ Konkin:
Give yourself permission to potentially suck and magic can occur.
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