a first

crazily it still has not snowed in d.c. this year! the ski resorts in the area haven't been able to open up because temps haven't been cold enough to keep the fake snow, until now. yesterday we drove to pennsylvania to whitetail to take a peek at the (sadly) fake snow and let me try snowboarding for the first time.

good thing bobby is such a trooper!

first thing, i love the little stuff he does so i know he is thinking about me, like the way he carries my equipment, stands in the line of wind pelting fake snow so it doesn't hit me in the face, and tugs me up and around the ski lifts (those tricky guys get me every time!).

he balances out offering his assistance in the intermediate times but lets me have space when it is time to scuttle down buns first on the bunny. so i never wanted to rip his head off. instead, he was the man i married. he made sure to be my strong tree to lean on and became my personal rope tow when i got stuck getting on and off those tricky little lifts.

and then it hits me. this is my boy. the companion i have always dreamt to be by my side through through any random thing. through laughing over me crashing into pipes unable to stop, to kissing me on the ski lift, to cheering me on when i am doing horribly, to telling me how cute i am when i am completely hopeless and not cute at all, to always filling up the car with gas for me, to discussing the future of our country and what scriptures are meant or not meant for us to take literally as we drive, to listening to music and reminiscing over shows we have seen together, to praying for our friends and families making difficult decisions, to listening to him befriend a server at fast food joint, to sharing foods, to holding my hand whenever we walk, to stop me in my tracks if i start to go into a funk by looking into my eyes and saying, "kiker!" until i smile and cannot be mad because he immediately apologizes, to meeting at the end of the day to share the "inside" daily moments you only keep to yourself, to finding true joy in the company of "us."

i have a boy who is consciously anticipating my next need, wanting to be the one to be there for me, and loves love as much as i do so that he knows i always have to feel and give love and live in an eternal crush no matter how many days go in and out with my same old face (or how many times i have to listen to the seinfeld theme song or the "EA Sports...its in the Game" commentary) or how he takes me up and down the bunny hill never complaining once about how boring it is for him since he could be doing some scary triple X black diamond thing.

by the way, what a whole bunch of nonsense that is going up and down...putting the boot on and off, getting on and off those ski lifts, i felt like i was never actually on the hill! (prob because was a bunny) but there feels like way too many gizmo's involved in winter sports. and to those who say snowboarding is like surfing they forgot about frozen ice chips, gear upon gear, and metal transporting apparatuses.

somehow boobs, who can do every sport there is, got paired up with me, who should be left only to do the things that require little to no coordination...ever! on the bunny hill, i actually started to realize the brilliance of yoga's theme, never let your body feel discomfort, no move should be painful.

i am so not the personality type for snowboarding. i can see how it would be super fun if you could do it, but it seems like it takes too much effort to get there. i just didn't get that ambitious bone in my body, its really no where! so when i got scared like i am about to run into people i didn't try to turn. i gave up and put my hands down on the snow and hooked em in until i could finally stop. then i did that over and over again. poor bobs!

and then when whack it happened and the tail bone hit, i was ready to say ok that's enough of that.

so i would say my first experience of snowboarding was a disastrous account of me slipping and sliding and doing nothing like a snowboarder should. i probably shouldn't have stopped after a fall but i totally gave up. bobby was patiently trying to teach me how to turn and stop and i was like a crack case of squiggles fumbling around on the bunny while everyone else went past me and i picked my hat up from the ice chunks and put it back onto my head.

somehow my three turns down the bunny cranked up a mean appetite as we stopped for the sickest greasy cheese gas station pizza that i wolfed in less than a minute not even caring what it was because i was hoping we'd pass a donut place on the way home.

i would say my three favorite things of the night were watching the beautiful whitetail, PA stars, taking a bath (in the most amazing herbal bath tea), being read to by bobby and then him playing video games not minding me read aloud to myself. what is it about reading out loud? its like books are just not meant to be read silently.

the weird thing about snowboarding was that it reminded me of an old friend who used to talk about it a lot when we were in high school. (oh yeah, another thing it made me realize, was my age! i felt so old out there with all the teenyboppers grabbing boards and running around.) he was one of those adventurous boys who was just good at weird random things and picked up a new hobby every time i talked to him. he always made me laugh and even though i was an embarrassment i totally wished he was there. so to long lost friends where ever in oregon or the globe you might be, warm thoughts to you tonight.