Wherein I become the sacrifice...

So this is it.  I'm going to die somewhere out here on a stinkin' mountain side.  At least my kids were with me ~ even though they were off doing the half pipe and taking The Wall with gusto.

After I managed to ski out of the small tidy bowl chute, I was tossed out onto Cindy's Run.  Well, I figured that I could make it down.  It was a pretty straight shot and if I zig zagged in reaaaaallllly wide turns, I might come out ok!  The only problem:  I was directly under a ski lift.  Do you see any ramifications of this?  I was on display for the ENTIRE EASTERN HEMISPHERE of skiers.  Not just cute little kids.  Heck no!  This was a skiers dream come true!  In fact, I wiped out about 20 feet after take off.  What did my ears hear?  Some teenage punks hollering at me!  I was being heckled.  So, after wallowing around on the ground, I managed to get up and try to make it a few more feet. 

Remember that the snow was a bit more like sand.  I was a new skier and where it might have been a little easier for some experienced skier, for me it was hard.  I didn't know how to get through this stuff.  Shoot, I was just trying to stay UP! 

Somehow I managed to point my ski's down and I got into a groove and off I shot.  Seriously.  And I couldn't stop.  I managed to stay away from the poles for the lifts, but I saw my life flash before my very eyes.  By the time I got to the bottom of the hill, my legs were shaking so badly that I thought they might fall off!  After I stopped and Lori was all excited for me because LOOK!  YOU'RE ALIVE!, I hightailed it straight over to the bunny hill!  Fast!  That is where I stayed for many an hour. 

Then the crew came over to get me.  We were going to go down the Mardi Gras.  YIPPEE!  More death and destruction awaiting me!  Again, I was promised that I would be fine.  It is such a nice and lovely hill.  It is all gentle, rolling bumps.  No possible way to fall off some wall that will send me to my death, no sharp areas that are going to make you careen down the hill at mach speed.

The only thing to be a little careful of was the ski lift.  It was one of the newer ones that really zips up the hill.  And when you get off it is like projectile vomiting ~ you get off or you are hanging on for dear life until you make it back around to the bottom.  At least that is what was going on in my brain.  In the end, that was the easiest part.

When we got off at the top, I had to stand around and get my bearings.  I mean, I'm not going to just shoot down the hill.  That would be suicide!  I had to ask everyone what was the easiest way to go, how can I keep from dying, and you're sure I can't fall off a mountainside?  Nope.  So Rodger and I went off down the run and I crashed about every 30 feet.  That sand snow was really helping the situation.

Then my moment of glory came.  I mean, I was crashing every 30 feet, but the falls were more like falling over because my ski's kept getting caught or stuck in snow.    The moment of doom was right there.

I don't even know how it happened but I crashed so hard and fast that my face flew into the snow, my arm was whacked somehow, my butt landed in something (probably someones boot from a previous crash), and I just lay in the snow.  Then the ski patrol came and asked if I needed to be taken down the hill.  And Rodger asked if I wanted to walk down.  And I thought this was the end.  I mean seriously, I had total strangers ask if I was ok.  My glasses were crooked on my face and snow was in my eyes...

Just remember that I am stubborn.  I managed to scrape myself up and somehow I made it down the hill.  I was internally killing every one of the adults on this trip because they felt like I was good enough to make it down the hill in this kind of snow.  I had internal bells going off before I did it.  The bells were screaming at me, "DON'T DO THIS!  THIS IS GOING TO BE YOUR DEMISE!"  The bells were really going off that loud.  However, I ignored them. 

By the time I got down the hill I swore I was never skiing again.  And maybe Rodger would fall off of a hillside.  Except, he chooses to go down those kinds of runs.  Never mind.

When I did make it down, I went to our room and got my pj's on.  I stayed there the rest of the night because I was in pain.  I had bruises everywhere.  I couldn't even sit down right because it hurt so badly!

I did manage to get back on the proverbial horse again, the next day.  I stayed at the bunny hill area and I enjoyed that!

The good news is, we ended up going back the next year and I really enjoyed the skiing!  I won't ever be aiming for a black diamond, but I can go straight onto the intermediate ski areas and be totally comfortable.

Lesson learned: don't ignore the bells that are going off in your head!  They mean business!

Tammy