When I was in high school, every Christmas break I would travel with Young Life up to North Carolina for a week of skiing and fellowship. I have some of the fondest memories of those weeks. It was during those weeks that I developed a love of skiing. But although I loved it, I never continued it. Between living in Florida and then having kids or being pregnant during the winter, it just didn’t happen.
A couple of weeks ago, MacKay mentioned to Har that he wanted to take her skiing to a nearby mountain. I immediately jumped in and told him that I loved to ski and I wanted to tag along. MacKay laughed because I’ve never mentioned that I enjoyed it before, but he happily told me I could come with the two of them.
That Saturday, while my sister and her fiancee watched Avery and Macks (which I am always so incredibly grateful for,) and Harlan, MacKay, and I headed for Mohawk Mountain.
We arrived at the mountain as soon as it opened because we wanted to get the most out of our day. We rented the gear and headed out to the snow. Harlan was so excited to start skiing and had no fear whatsoever. MacKay started by just pushing her around and down a little slope and she smiled the entire time. She loved it from the very beginning.
Har was scheduled for a two-hour lesson that morning and MacKay and I attempted to brush up on our skills on the bunny slope.
After conquering the bunny slope, we headed to the beginner mountain on the ski lift. I swear the hardest part of the mountain was getting off of the ski lift. I fell every time getting off of it and made it down the mountain without any problems.
We did the beginner slope a couple of times and decided we were ready for the next course. I was under the impression that it was just a bigger beginnner slope. As MacKay and I headed up the lift, however, I quickly realized that it wasn’t. The lift just kept going and going. I told MacKay I wasn’t so sure about it, but he assured me that we were fine. As soon as we got off the ski life and saw the steep hills, we both started laughing at one another. This was not a beginner slope. I tried to shake off the jitters and told MacKay I’d go first. I hit the first hill and went straight for the trees on the side of the hill. I fell face first, my skis went flying and nearly busted my knee.
MacKay was not too far behind and he’d fell too, only he’d managed to stay on the slope while falling. That one fall was enough for me and I decided to walk the entire way down the mountain. MacKay was unscathed and although falling numerous times, he skied the entire way down.
After the fall, I decided to take a little bit of a break and check on Har at her lesson. She was having so much fun and was loving every second of being in the snow.
After her lesson, Har built up enough confidence not only to do the bunny slope, but to do the beginner slope. She rode on the ski lift with me and then held onto my ski pole as we headed down the mountain. I am happy to say that we went down the hill nearly a dozen times and we didn’t fall at all!
MacKay and I were both so proud of this girl. She was so amazing the entire day. It was special for both of us to be able to spend time with just her. It had been forever (probably since Avery was born) since we’ve just spent time with just her for more than a couple of hours and it made me realize that we need to do it more.
MacKay and I laughed like we haven’t laughed in a long time. Between my wipe out and both of us falling as we were getting off of the ski lift, my stomach was hurting from how much we laughed at ourselves. I was so happy to be able to get some one-on-one time with him that day too.
On our last time up the mountain before heading home, I asked Har how she was enjoying skiing. “This is the best day ever, mom,” she exclaimed. And I couldn’t agree more.
I took these photos as we were leaving the mountain that day. It was such a gorgeous place and to know that it was within driving distance from our house was even more exciting.
As we headed home, Har immediately fell asleep in the car. I sat and talked with MacKay about the day. We couldn’t wipe the smiles off of our faces. We laughed about our beginner ski skills, boasted about how proud we were of Har, and how crazy it was that she’s at this age when we can have real conversations with her and spend days like this with her.
Where does the time go?
