On Trying Something New.
It was decided to visit the slopes one very cold evening. We bundled up and met at a gas station before driving the hour to Snow Trails. Since the guys were snowboarding, they headed out to hit that while C and I got our rental skis and poles. Ski boots feel really odd to walk in. Since neither of us had ever dabbled in skiing, we went up and down the very non vertical bunny slope for a good long time. We were not going in over confident. :) Eventually we hit the bigger hills and even got to ride a ski lift to get to the top of one hill! It was football evening so the slopes were very empty and at one point we were the only ones out there. When we quit that evening, the thermometer was reading 1℉, but we didn’t even feel that cold. Also given that we weren’t riding the ski lifts up the big hills and tearing down at fast rates of speed, we were warmer than the boys. It was a very fun experience and I will be skiing again I hope. If you ever feel not that confident on a snowboard, try skiing. It is a good time! And most importantly, go out and try something new. You might really enjoy yourself.
Skating is a fun season and hockey is a fun sport but the amount of people who get hurt with either is amazing. Once again the youth had studied their doctrine lessons and then went skating. The evening ended with at least three casualties. Someone got hit on the head with a puck. There were several falls during skirmishes and an occasional hockey stick to the head. If you could watch us play hockey, you would probably laugh. We aren’t even as aggressive as other people and we still seem to get ourselves hurt at every turn. No matter the accident, we are sure to be skating the next evening as if there is nothing wrong and there are no bruises.
You know how some people have a bottomless bag or backpack, like they just seem to have everything stored in that thing. One skating evening, yours truly forgot her gloves. That is a pretty important article of clothing in the winter. I skated here and there with my hands in pockets until my brother asked if I had checked with CT. I had not and hurriedly skated to find him and inquire on his glove collection. Out of the bottomless backpack came multiple different pairs of gloves. Some were lighter and some were thicker. I picked ones I thought would be feasible and enjoyed my warm hands the rest of the evening. How thankful I was for people like CT and his bottomless backpack. He is also known for having a snack and water with him. Oh to be more like that!
One enjoyable evening was spent sitting in a circle on someone’s kitchen floor eating Flaming Hot Cheetos and Snap’d chips. We went around the circle asking questions and learning all kinds of funny things. Someone learned that lemons are the yellow fruit and limes are green. Others learned that you want to have even pressure in your tires and can’t just air them up until they look full enough. Another fun fact was that wombat feces is in a square shape and the term “an arm and a leg” originated from way back when it cost extra to have an arm or a leg in a photograph. Do you think a talking parrot would be a fun pet? Or maybe you would prefer a super chameleon that can blend into his surroundings? We also discussed hair and eye color and if hypothetically we would have tattoos or not. And a completely random side note: are there any seven foot tall hockey players? What a good time it can be to simply sit and converse!
An inspiration from a simple song: “Fill my cup. Let it overflow. Let it overflow with love.”
Have you ever walked on ice in heels? I don’t own that many good flat Sunday shoes and even my boots are heeled so walking into church across the icy parking lot has been a fun experience. So far no falls but it takes me a lot longer to walk in than it does my little brothers.
Cover Your Assets is a fun game to play with a tired youth bunch. There were many golds and silvers flying around in not so important stacks and in the end, one person got all those good cards aside from two slivers. From first to second place was a staggering $700,000 or something to that effect. Still a “golden” time!
And in closing: If we wait until we’re ready, we’ll be waiting the rest of our lives. -Lemony Snicket So go forth and try something new. Maybe it is just ordering something different on a menu or maybe it is putting your name in for the mission and maybe it is as simple as getting up early and taking a walk. Step outside of your comfort zone and experience the joys of simply trying something new!