Snowboarding - Dude

I've thought about learning to snowboard, even joked about it with my sister-in-law, Heidi. Yesterday I took the plunge and hit the slopes (literally). We decided to do something a little different for our last day of mid-winter break and took the kids to Stevens Pass for their first attempt at "sliding (slang for both skiing and snowboarding). The girls and Hallack wanted to ski but Ben wanted to snowboard and at first I was just going to hang out in the lodge. After I thought about it, I decided that it wouldn't be fair to Ben to send him out alone on a board and here was my chance to try it as well.

Not knowing how difficult it would be to learn, Ben and I googled snowboard lessons and found several videos, which we watched. The best piece of advice we got was to wear padding so both of us donned some knee pads but were at a loss as to how to pad our behinds. In retrospect, I wish I'd taken the padding part a little more seriously and was really grateful for the kneepads!
Our first stop was at Bothell Ski and Bike to rent gear and from there, we headed out highway 2 toward the pass. It was a gorgeous early spring day with a noticeable lack of snow until right before Stevens. We found parking, carefully put on all our layers and gingerly hiked our way through the icy lot to the lodge. Purchasing our tickets, looking over the map to find the bunny hill, we sat down on the snow just outside the lodge to put on our boards. It was just now 3pm and our evening lift tickets were operational so....time to get going. Here's where Ben and I encountered our first difficulty - putting on our boards and standing up. To the amusement of at least one bystander, I made a comment about "the blind leading the blind." I finally came to the conclusion that we needed to walk to the starter hill and go from there. Saying goodbye to Hallack and the girls, we trudged off to the base of the easiest hill and observed toddlers riding up the "magic carpet" (a motorized rubber belt that takes you up the hill.) "Ah," I thought, "so much better than the old rope tow!" We did manage to figure how to use the magic carpet on our own, as well as how to flip our boards over and stand, ready to go down the hill. Perfect. Ben even made it down the hill several times without falling but I was determined to learn how to turn so that I'd have some measure of control. So I fell. And fell again. Forward, backwards, on my butt, on my hands, laughing, trying not to think about how this would feel tomorrow.... Until finally (after an hour) I came to the conclusion that we were not going to learn how to do this on our own. No phone, no car keys, no wallet, no ID, armed only with my memorized credit card number, expiration date and security code, I headed into the lesson hut to beg help from the nice ski school people.

This turned out to be my best decision of the day. From here it mostly gets better. I signed us up for a two hour coaching with the school's best instructor - Ken Bailey. Ken is 48 and a recent convert from skiing to boarding himself. Ken was in the corporate world and seven years ago decided he'd had enough and now works for Stevens in a variety of capacities. He understands people and started off by finding out about us. I really liked how he took us through everything: clothing, equipment (or tools as he called them), body mechanics and then began teaching us how to stand, balance and finally move on the boards.

When we finally took our first ride up the "magic carpet" it was 5:30 and the sun had set behind the towering mountains around us. That meant that the temperature dropped dramatically and the previously slushy snow turned to ice with a dusting of loose snow on top. That proved to be my undoing. My first foray down the gentle slope was fine, as was the second and my thought was "hey, I might actually get this!" Ben was doing great - his natural balance and feerlessness were a good combination. My tendency to overthink things got me into trouble on my third trip down. I quit feeling the ride and as I got some momentum, fear took over and I did all the things I wasn't supposed to do. I lost control, leaned back instead of forward, began flapping my arms, took my weight off the center of the board and transferred it to my hind end so, guess where I landed? That's right, on the buttocks, on the ice, hard. Not content with that injury to my body (not to mention my ego), I finished with a nice whiplash of my head to the ice as well. Ah ha, now I know why a helmet is a good idea - even on the bunny hill!

Ken got to me quickly and, with much concern in his eyes, began to ask me simple questions like the day, date and where the heck was I? When I answered all correctly he switched to a more encouraging tone and told me I was doing great but then asked if I would like a break for a few minutes? Since my head was pounding and the pain from my derrier was making it difficult to sit or even think about standing, I agreed. If the truth must be told (and it must) I was seriously thinking that this would be the end of sliding for me. Never being a quitter, I decided that I had to "get back on the horse" or, in this case, the magic carpet. So after a few minutes, I crept over to the rubber belt and up the hill I went. From here until the end of the lesson at 6:30, I managed to stay on my feet, learn how to control the board (sort of) and traverse the hill. Ben got a little extra coaching at the end while I went off to practice a bit by myself. I did take a couple more spills but I managed to not permanently damage my tailbone. For which I'm eternally grateful.

At home, I took Ken's advice and loaded up on the Ibuprofen as well as took a relaxing bath. I woke up stiff and sore today but much, much, much less than I had anticipated. I'm sitting a bit more gingerly, walking a bit more slowly but am thinking about what I'll do differently next time. Really - there will be a next time but there will also be a lot more padding and a helmet.

Going Under Construction

Yesterday I had a fateful meeting - with Mark Johnson the handyman. We walked and talked through all what it will take to transform our family room to the welcoming place of hospitality that I envision it to be. I am almost beyond words in my delight that this is actually going to happen. I have hoped, planned, despaired, been resigned, been renewed and gotten stuck so many times that I can hardly believe it's finally going to happen. Today the kids and I are going to go to IKEA to look at some cabinets and then I'm going to visit the door store as well as the neighborhood flooring store.

What finally convinced me, gave me the "umph" and the courage to proceed, you ask? The deep sense that this is something God is calling me to do. To step beyond my fears, inadequacies, doubt and truly believe that a new family room will not only bless me or our family but will bless our community as well. This morning I was envisioning new ways to use our home as a place of healing and restoration. Just as God has been restoring and healing me, I know He can and will use our new freedom to bless others. I'm eager to begin; delighted with the prospects and confident in God's provision. He's a wonderful, heavenly Daddy who loves to give good gifts to His children. Thank You, Daddy! And so it begins....