237 : Where There's a Will...

Last year, when I was married, my then husband and I had talked about taking our son skiing for the first time.  He was only 2, but we wanted to start him young.  My Ex had skied much of his life and was good.  I had learned in my 20s and was only decent.  But I still tried to go at least once every year and I enjoyed doing it.  Of course, we never did get our son on skis that year because December was when my then husband told me he was unhappy.  January was when he moved out and February was when he filed for divorce.  I was unable to take my son that year because I was focusing primarily on just getting through the day (see post #2).  And now another winter season was upon us and I wanted to attempt to take my son.  I was nervous, however, that I wouldn't be able to do this on my own.  This was something that I worried about across the board with my kids as far as activities were concerned.  How was it physically possible to have both of my boys in swim lessons with only one of me?  It wasn't.  How could I teach my boys to ski?  Well, I wasn't sure if I could but I wanted to try.  My youngest, of course, was too young to participate this year and fortunately for me, Nana was available to watch him.  So my oldest and I planned to go with my sister and her family to the mountain.  Unfortunately, we had an ice storm working against us the day before, so I wasn't sure if we would even be able to go.  But after checking, it turned out the ski grounds would be open that day so off we went. Now as I mentioned before, I wasn't the best skier - I had heart, but not necessarily skill.  I considered a lesson for my son, but was talked out of it by my sister.  We could do it ourselves, right?  Well...kind of.  I tried.  But after a couple spills early on (yes- I actually slipped on the magic carpet) I conceded and asked one of the instructors nearby if she wanted to help with a lesson.   She graciously agreed.  With her help we were able to get up the magic carpet successfully and ski all the way down the hill.  Twice!  It wasn't the same as how I had originally envisioned this happening, but we had done it.  Even after a year, I was still surprising myself with what I could accomplish.  I was proud of my son for what he had done that day.  I was proud of us both.