Ellemental

I’m going to be very honest here.  This winter has been tough for me.  I don’t know if it’s because I’m getting older or less tolerant or what, but this feeling keeps welling and building inside of me…this need to scream, “Enough already!  Enough of the slush and cold and gray skies.  For the love of God, no more gray skies!”  Every time I watch the weather, and the weatherguy says, “and later on I’ll give you more information about a possible storm later this week.” (which is EVERYTIME I watch the weather,) I start to shake and my head moves violently from side to side, and I make this high-pitched little “noooooooooooo” sound, and the VIM asks me to stop because it scares the cats.

So yesterday, smack dab in the middle of an entire month of gray skies, was a perfect blue sky day.  And a fairly warm day.  The VIM and I took advantage of this and went cross country skiing.  This was only my second time on skis, and my first on a path with actual ups and downs.  Let me tell you – there were quite a few downs.  As in “down on my rear end.”  Nothing highlights my very deep need to be in control like strapping some 5 foot slippy planks to the bottom of my feet and putting me on a downward slope.  My first fall was the best – the VIM at the bottom of a little hill, coaxing me to Just.  Try. It.  He promised me that I would stop LONG before I would hit the underbrush and stand of trees at the bottom.  So down I went, but when I realized I WASN’T going to stop as quickly as I hoped I freaked out and started flailing around.  Yes, go ahead and picture a short little woman, bundled up like the Michelin Man going down a very short little hill (seriously, it was only 7 feet long or so, but it was a LOOOOOOOONG 7 feet), arms and poles flailing, one leg kicked up, and screaming like the hounds of hell was on her trail.  That, my friends, would be a very accurate picture.  At the bottom of the hill, I hit the VIM, and my skis went up over his, which did indeed cause me to stop.  Immediately.  The effect was that I went down like I was clotheslined.

Now, you would think that that would make me pause and wonder if this cross country skiing thing was a good fit for me.  What happened, though, was I realized that it didn’t hurt TOO bad to fall, and that I was going to be ok.  So I got up, laughing at what a scene that must have been, and kept on going.  And falling.  And getting back up.  And falling.  Then we got on a fairly flat area and I was good to go.  I loved it.  I loved looking at the animal tracks.  I loved seeing how the texture of the snow changed from the shaded areas to the sunny areas.  I loved finding a rhythm in my legs and arms and brain.  I truly loved the experience.  The skiing-on-flat-ground experience anyhow.  The hills are still a bit of a challenge.  I had an amazing time.  I SO needed that amazing time.  The only thing that keeps me from wanting to do it again soon is the fact that I need snow to do it.