My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 13th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which hundreds of teachers participate in posting a story per day.
Dear Kids,
It’s really starting to sink in that we are probably living through what will be your generation’s 9/11.
Today, at the gas station, the lady in the car in front of mine was filling up four giant plastic tanks of gas. I overheard her chatting with the man across the pump for her. “You think there’s gonna be a gasoline shortage?” he joked.
“Probably at this rate. You never know what’s gonna happen.” she responded in all seriousness.
That’s crazy I thought to myself. Or is it…
Everybody has been worrying about and talking about what’s going to happen over the next few weeks, but I read a post from a professor that school closures, social distancing, and shelter-in-place could potentially last for a full year. Not a school year. A calendar year. Yikes.
After we stopped for gas, Lily and I drove up to the mountain. Officially the mountain is closed, about a month earlier than usual. The chairlifts aren’t running, the lodges are locked up, no more snow-making or grooming.
Today was a gorgeous, sunny, thirty-something-degree spring day, so I was excited for Lily to try the touring gear we got her a few months ago. With touring gear, we don’t need chairlifts! We have A/T gear! (Special bindings that make it so that you can walk uphill using your skis like nordic skis, and then click into your bindings at the top so that you can ski down like alpine skis).
I was so proud of how strong Lily was! She had no trouble at all adjusting to the bindings, and even when we got to the tippy-top, where there were two ways to choose from, she chose the super-steep route instead of the easier route.
At the top, we ate cookies with our friends who were already there (keeping a safe distance from each other). We played music, had a “trick skiing” contest, and were thrilled to see two groomers sweep through, on their way to pick up the furniture from the Ski Patrol Hut.
After we finished our cookies, we all skied down on freshly groomed corduroy. A true spring ski day!
At the bottom, Lily asked to climb the mountain again!
We need to keep hiking and skiing as much as possible — otherwise, I’ll get sucked into the news and I’ll turn into that lady at the gas station, panic-buying gasoline for no apparent reason. Let’s not let that happen.
Love,
Your Mom