Last year Bracken and I joined my dad in Bend and went on a ski adventure together. We talked about going skiing again this year and decided to ski in Ashland instead, closer to where my dad lives. My uncle was able to join us and we ended up having such a fun day. The view at Mt. Ashland was just beautiful and we could see Mt. Shasta. My dad and uncle have plenty of skiing experience so they were able to take Bracken with them down the bunny hill while I got used to skiing again.

I don’t have much skiing experience and the first time down the bunny hill was a bit scary for me. At one point when I was going fast down the hill and having a hard time slowing down and stopping (I’m still learning that) I wondered what in the world I was doing. Why again was I on a snow covered mountain with slick things on the bottom of my feet, trying to stay upright while going down much too quickly for my liking?

But then Bracken and I took lessons. My dad signed us up for group lessons, and then our group was divided into beginners and beginning beginners. Bracken and I were the only ones in the latter group and we ended up with not one, but two instructors for the two of us because someone was in training to become a ski instructor. It was our lucky day! We also felt lucky that the weather was so gorgeous that day. I was over prepared and we ended up having far too many layers on. (Note to self: bring a pack of some sort next time to hold excess layers.)

In the practice area I skied without poles for the first time and got more comfortable on skis than I had ever felt before. Bracken learned how to go (french fries) and stop (pizza) on his skis and then he did an obstacle course and even bent down on his skis to go underneath some tunnels they constructed for us. I was amazed. At his age it was challenging for him to even carry his skis, so I couldn’t believe how well he held up for two hours of lessons and then more skiing afterwards. My uncle brought along walkie talkies for us to use and we let them know when we were done with our lessons. They told us to look over on the other mountain and we saw them waving and then got to watch them ski down the rest of the mountain, which was so fun.

Bracken wanted to show them what he had learned and then we went down the bunny hill a few more times. Bracken was far more fearless than I was and kept saying “faster, faster!” After the lessons, I had more fun going down the bunny hill because I was able to control my speed more. Skiing definitely stretches me and pushes me out of my comfort zone. But as a wise person said to me afterwards “sometimes you need to do things like that just to remind yourself that you are alive.” It was a day we will all remember, one I will always cherish because of the time we got to spend together and the memories we made.

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P.S. Bracken and I are leaving for Florida tomorrow to visit my mom. I’ve unpacked all our layers for the snow and today have been packing for the beach instead. Yay for flip flops! The last of the orders went out today and I have closed the shop. It will be closed for the duration of our trip because Jeff will be too busy preparing for our next festival to keep up with it. If this space is quiet, you’ll know why, but I’ll be sure to come back before long to share some of our Florida adventures.