I'll Survive

I’ll Survive

As I write our 4 year old grandson is screaming his lungs out over something he feels is really important. Parents are members of a special club that no one who is not one will ever “get”. Much like combat veterans, broken hearted lovers or those in recovery, no one can read their way through “the experience”. When we’re here visiting the Taos gang I always think of just how fast time flies. Blink once and the vocal 4 year old will be asking for car keys, blink again and you’re at his house visiting his new family……..then poof……

When we were traveling here we took our seats in the 1^st vacant row we came to and it was not until I had avoided eye contact with every other boarding passenger and made sure my force-field shield was on so the middle seat would remain “ours”   that I noticed we were in front of the exit row. “Crap”, what little bit of comfort that was available in the form of a 5 degree incline would not be mine for the next two hours. My first thought was of 1^st class but that evaporated. I’ll survive.

We went skiing today. It was windy very windy, what some might call Idiot Wind. Fortunately it was mostly sunny and not terribly cold so it was more a weather show that it was a misery maker. Clouds were zipping above the mountain top at such speed that the head winds were tearing off the leading edges and smashing them into the cloud in front. It was impressive until you turned a corner and got your face snow-blasted back to your 20’s.

I had a couple of what I felt were good runs then caught a tip because of bad habits and smashed my ribs into the mountain with such force that I lost my breath. It felt exactly like getting head butted in the flank when I played rugby. “Man that’s gonna lave a mark” I thought as I struggled to re –attach my skis and return to the basics of skiing for the rest of the day.   I was bummed because my semi-cool parallel skier mask formed over the past few months had been ripped off and my lack of fundamentals had been exposed.    Breathing was (still is) difficult but because I did not have poles for my fundamentals,  it let my ribs off the hook for the remaining dozen or so runs because my arms did not have to do much. Good thing I’ve been doing yoga because all the sitting on air exercises paid off. Dang, I hate being a beginner at anything!!! …………………but just like yoga, it won’t be forever and having good basics always pay off big dividends. Unlearning any bad habits takes longer than getting it right the 1^st time, so I’ll be snow plowing for a while.  Be it Skiing, Biking or Sailing …….they’re same thing, good basics = NO DEATH.       I’ll survive.

Both grandkids are now doing puzzles together; things have mellowed out.  Annoyances meld into snuggles which meld into baths, teeth brushing and then bed and then more snuggles ………….. only to be repeated tomorrow, Thank Goodness !  

I will close now and head over to the recliner to make up for some lost lumbar angle time while sounds of kids snoring begin to permeate the house………….somehow everything just works out just the way it’s supposed to……………we all  survived.