My Two Writing Teachers colleagues and I are hosting the 15th Annual March Slice of Life Story Challenge, in which teachers from around the world participate by posting a story per day.
Yesterday, was as close to a perfect ski day as I’ve ever had.
The sun was shining. It was warm (but not too warm). There was plenty of snow. And we were at Mad River Glen—my favorite place in the world to ski. Its motto is Mad River Glen, Ski It If You Can because the terrain is famously technical and steep.
It was my daughter’s first time at Mad River. She’s twelve, and, like everyone in my family, she’s been skiing since she was a baby. She’s strong, and fast, and confident. She’s the only girl on her freeski team! Yesterday, she competed in a freeski competition—her fourth comp this season—and she did great.
Watching Lily compete is so much fun, as her mom. I can’t even describe the feeling of pride. It’s overwhelming, really.
In a freeski competition, skiers earn points in several categories - fluidity, control, style & energy, technique, and line. So, if you aren’t super fast, you can earn points in other ways. Even if you aren’t doing huge jumps, you can still do fairly well. It’s a really fun sport for skiers that are not into racing.
Lily and I arrived on time, at 7:30am to get her bib and our lift tickets. She joined the rest of her team and we all listened to the organizers give a little welcome. Then, the athletes were allowed to get on the lift to go see the course and plan out their run (it’s called course inspection).
Mad River Glen is home to the oldest working chairlift in the country (maybe even all of North America?). It’s an ancient single chair lift that you ride by yourself. It’s very unique and special, and a point of pride for MRG. I have vivid memories of riding the single chair in high school, and it was super exciting to watch Lily get on the single chair for the first time. I took a video of her getting on the lift — I’ve never felt more like a mom!
Once Lily was off with her team, I was free to ski until it was time to watch her run. I had spent a lot of time at this ski area as a teenager and it was so much fun to have all kinds of memories flooding back. Nothing has changed at all at MRG since I was in high school! Even the music playing from the lifts was just how I remembered it.
A surprising thing happened, too. I generally do not have great memories of high school. I tend to talk negatively about pretty much everything related to my teenage stage. I was nerdy and didn’t have a lot of friends. But as I skied the same trails I used to ski, and explored the old woods I used to know so well, I was surprised at how happy it made me to remember this place and the time spent there.
When it was time for Lily’s run, I joined the other parents from our ski club and we all cheered for our kids, other peoples kids, all the kids. One thing about freeski that is very special is the close-knit community.
Lily did really well on her run, and we spent the rest of the day skiing together. At one point, her friends saw us in the lift line and asked Lily if she wanted to join them—and she (gasp) chose to keep skiing with her mom! Whoa, best day ever for me.
I hope someday, Lily will have that same connection to the places we’ve taken her so often, and to the outdoors, and skiing.