No. 12: Take a snow skiing lesson

No. 12: Snow Skiing Lesson.

So No. 12 on the list was to get myself a snow skiing lesson.

And since I'm in Colorado and we just had a boatload of snow, I really didn't have much excuse to not follow through on this one.

See?

Plenty of snow.

But I have to say, this was probably the scariest and most "I want to but I don't really want to" of all my challenges.

I've always wished I was raised in one of those families that put their kids on skis when they were three. But I wasn't.

Instead, to me, skiing was just one of those things other people did. 

But the snow was there, the temperature was perfect and Boy had already asked to go to the ski area so there was  NO reason why I couldn't take a lesson.   I hoped the classes would be full, but they weren't. Again, there was NO reason why I couldn't take a lesson. 

Boy had one snowboarding lesson 4 years ago yet

he had no problem picking it right up. 

Kids..

Getting my boots on. 

Still hoping the lesson might be cancelled.

  

.

So I was out there on the bunny slope with three other much younger, much more adept, beginning skiers. 

This is the part of the lesson I aced.

My name and where I was from and what was my experience- 

I knew all the answers.

And you know what?
This has got to be the stupidest thing ever but since my only experience observing skiers has been watching the Olympics, I did not realize that I was not supposed to go straight down the mountain.
I could not understand why the patient instructor was teaching us to turn this way and that.
Traversing?
That was the whole point?
News to me. 

*

This is not me.

And somehow I never realized that skiers were turning as they came down the mountain.

But looking at pictures I couldn't find a single one with a skier coming straight down. 

Hmmm. 

About an hour into the class I had a huge reality check.
I am not in the excellent physical shape required for snow skiing.
And that knee I broke FORTY years ago is not as strong as the knee that has never been broken. Muscles were squealing and I could tell that the left leg was working much harder than the right one. My right ankle was joining my right knee at the pity party.

Me in the pink jacket looking awkward. 

But at least I'm upright. 

The more I practiced, the weaker my muscles got. 

I confess. 

I ducked out early.

Once I decided to duck out, 

I still had to get down the mountain.

Or the tiny slope. 

But I'm not giving up entirely.

I really feel like if I worked out a little, I could do this. (Why, o! why is my horse in Texas? Those horse riding muscles are the ones I need.)  Maybe yoga class would help.
Especially since now I have the concept down.
Maybe I need a private lesson.
But plenty of people ski, people older than me,  so I'm sure I can figure it out. 

The hubs says maybe I need to realize my limits. 

Nah.