Oh how I love to ski! Don't I look happy in this picture? I am! I'm so excited to get on the slopes and ski my day away! Before this, I had only been skiing one time and I had so much fun...even though I had to figure it out by myself. I never had lessons, no one told me that I could zig-zag down the mountain instead of going straight on. I actually picked that up from a 5 year old that zoomed past me while I was scooting down the mountain on my butt. But once I picked it up, I fell in love with it!
Fast forward 10 years to my second experience on the slopes. I seriously was so giddy I'm sure I was annoying as heck on the car ride. We made it to the beginner slope so I could get used to skiing again. I did great! I went down a couple times and didn't fall once. My confidence level was phenomenal! So we went to the next hardest slope.
I knew to be a little more careful and not get carried away, so I did my best to zig-zag a little more and to ease myself into the harder stuff. About half way down the mountain, I hit a rough patch of snow and caught the edge of my ski. My first fall of the day, and boy was it a good one! I went flying forward face first into the snow, and somehow one of my skis came off and hit me in the back of the head. It was then I understood why people wear helmets. I also had banged my right knee up pretty good. Once I stopped seeing stars I got up and kept going. My confidence had slightly fallen but I kept on. Then I fell again. And again. And again. One of the times that Gary was helping me up, one of our poles smacked me in the mouth. Ugh.
Not to be defeated to easily, I made it down the mountain and we rode the lift up to try it again. I made it a fair way down before I fell, and banged my right knee again! By this time, my confidence had plummeted, but not only that, my knee was in so much pain that I couldn't turn on my skis anymore. I had to literally slide down the mountain sideways, and if I tried to turn at all, I would keep falling and falling and falling. So sad.
Well, by that time it was lunch time and I thought I was done for the day. We went back to the car to eat, and I thought I would stay there the rest of the day to recover. But, after an hour of rest or so, I thought I would try again, but only do the beginner slope the rest of the day. So I did. I was able to go gently enough down the hill a few times and my knee was feeling better.
I realized I was done though when I fell on about the 5th run down and I couldn't get up at all! My strength was not only gone, it was in the negative. My brother in law pretty much had to pick me up.
The next day, Gary and I tried to count the bruises on my body, but stopped after about 20 or so. Every muscle in my body was in pure agony too! It will probably be a little while before I try to ski again, and when that day comes, I'm staying on the bunny hill. I would LOVE to see my baby grow into adulthood is all.
