It was been my intention to write before now but my laptop is sick and I am sneaking some time from work to catch up. March is such a glorious month except for the wrinkle in time that we cal Daylight Savings. Somehow it never feels like I am springing forward, it feels as though I am plummeting into a dark, sticky morass. Why can't we just want and let the light change naturally? What is the hurry?
Last week was great - JC and I headed out to a friend's house in Ophir to see their Best Winter Europs Has Had In 50 Years Trip photos. We had burritos for dinner, stations of condiments and toppings strewn about the counters, a big pot of black beans, rice and ground elk for filler, and a whole mess of Ophir kids dressing up, running amock, causing a general chaotic vibe underneath the taller adult world of conversations and catching ups.
We commented on the drive home about the memories these kids will have when they are older, all the gatherings their parents drug them to, all the friendships they fell into because they were born into a community of incredible athletes and outdoorspeople. It is amazing to think about not just what their parents have done, but what they are capable of. The number of peaks climbed, peaks skied, the hundreds of thousands of vertical feet gained and descended, by foot, bike, ski, over the years and the years to come. There was some talent in that basement, with margaritas and beers in hand, watching Mel and Himay floating through the Alps.
Both kids were sick this weekend and it was the first time JC and I did a split-shift, trading off skiing and passing off symptom, food, drink, medicine, and rest status of both kids while one removed ski gear and the other donned it. JC enjoyed the fruits of accessing peaks from the ski area, back home by noon so I could go slay it on the area.
One of the reason I love this process of learning how to ski, and why I love yoga so much, is that they are both similar to assembling a puzzle, one piece at a time. With skiing, I look at the Big Picture of being able to access the entire ski area with proficiency, style and no fear. That is my goal. And every single time I go, another run gets added to my final picture, another portion of a run that was out of reach 2 weeks ago, another way of skiing familiar runs, all of those keep falling into place, day by day by day.
Same with yoga. If you break down the poses into their components, longer hamstring here, greater outward shoulder rotation there, you start adding puzzle pieces to the Big Picture of being able to do all poses.
I had fostered the belief that I would never really progress to advanced terrain on my skis if I was predominantly on less challenging terrain (I don't have much time to venture far on my lunch breaks and when we ski with the kids it is not blacks or bumps we ski), but I think I may have proved myself wrong. JC has said from the start that to be a good skier you have to be really, really strong. Really strong. And all the skiing you do, no matter where you are, builds strength. So when I revisited runs I hadn't done in a month, runs that used to grip me, here I was sliding and gliding down, using the strength I have been building all winter.
It's the same with practicing yoga - the more strength you build, the less you have to use it. Kind of crazy, but true.
Anyway, I have been told I need to put more photos on my blog, which I will do. I am getting my laptop assessed tomorrow and if it is not worth it to fix, I just may go for a Mac!
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