Magic carpet ride (300 words)

I am now officially behind on my entries, and my class will never let me hear the end of it. No doubt it will become a point of negotiation. :)

The second required topic that I'm working with today is describing a place. Since I'm freshly back from my first snowboarding lesson and whimpering on the couch, it seems like a good place to go for this entry.

I'm from the south, in case you weren't aware of this. I'm from a place where "fall" means that one day the leaves on the trees are green, and the very next they're brown and on the ground. There's no transition just...fall. I always thought, growing up, that "fall" meant that one day, and not an entire 3-moth season. True story.

I make a big deal out of this but, actually, I haven't lived in the south for, oh, um, over 20 years now. I don't have an accent, unless I've spent time communing with those who do, and the heat really does get to me if I happen to be below he Mason Dixon line in the summer. I also laugh at old friends who whine and wear heavy coats when the mercury dips below 50. Wimps.

Anyway, I'm rambling off-topic here.

Last winter, son of Commuter Mom had a snowboarding lesson and proved to be a bit of a natural at it. This is one of the advantages of living in northcountry: winter sports. We'd been talking about going back to try it again, and today we finally went.

Since moving to NY, I've tried a few things I've never done before. Something about this move has given me the courage to wiggle out of my comfort zone and I'm grateful. I may be in pain, but at least I'm not stagnant.

So today we went to a local resort and took snowboarding lessons. As I was driving up to the lodge, the mountains rose behind it, starkly menacing with their peaks hidden in the low clouds. This is NY in winter--there are always low clouds. But I had promised, and we were there, and so we went. The boy had a wonderful time, though the teaching style here is different than it was at the place he went in Michigan so there was a bit of confusion at the beginning. Fortunately, he's got enough natural ability that he could board down without breaking a sweat.

I was set up with a one-on-one lesson. My instructor was a lovely woman who has three kids and enough patience to not smack me upside the head though I'm sure she was tempted. After an hour of hard work I learned to stop and turn and (most importantly) stand up without help. Yeah, I'm that good.

After the lesson was over, the boy and I got some lunch then headed back to the bunny hill. He took the magic carpet like a pro, explaining how it was done like he was born to it.

I, on the other hand, slid off the end and took out the bright orange "poles down" sign when we got to the top. True story.

Next time, I'm going to try skis.