young in my OWN mind

in my mind,

I am eighteen,

just discovering love for the very first time,

in my mind,

I am the word fearless,

x-country skiing my favorite Rocky Mountain peak,

in my mind,

I am fit,

long and lean, and blonde in all seasons— a Breck girl commercial

in my mind.

 

instead,

reality swooped,

faster than I could say Jack Robinson

this morning—

I pulled up my new ski socks and new ski pants, as I sat on my old hope chest in the bedroom

Outside,

I laced and zipped my new boots

latched them into my new Rosi skis

while I desperately held onto my new poles in the icy new Illinois snow, sparking in my sloped back yard,

OHHH NOOO,

sliding fast— my stiff knees forget to bend,

My old brain,

remembered—

Too late

how to snowplow,

down I crash into icy pellets.

in my mind, I think

I’m a part of Medicare—sixty-five,

hooray!

laughing all the way,

enjoying every moment of our back yard wonderland,

glimpsing the love of my life, around the bend, not hearing my pleas for help

and I’m only slightly annoyed

that he is rediscovering our long-lost ski passion a bit easier than me,

who does the inside Nordic Track every day of my life

he nears,

my heart quickens

He drawls, stifling his need for hysterical laughter. Need some help there, little lady?

Yep, take a picture, please?

For your blog?

Yep,

PS Love that Dave so loves me and so gets me after all these years.

PSS Our first snow this year teaches me so much today. Mainly, I definitely can’t look at myself as an expert and at least for a while, flat terrain will be my best friend!

Hard to get up in my skis…had to get out of them and then stand by then I was happy!

Glad I didn’t fall into our lake today…brrrr!