A First Time

An upright moment. The form will improve.

"How many days until I can go skiing?" Elianna has been asking that question pretty much daily, for... well, ever since she agreed to take lessons the the Winter Walden ski school.

Yesterday she told the piano teacher. She tried on the boots in the den, get in to the skis. She could barely contain her excitement. But today was the day. Up early, in to the clothes, equipment to the car, for the 400 yard drive to the Middle School for the bus out to Mt. Brighton. Of course, we warned her that she would fall... a lot.

Her cleass had two teachers. One is famous for wearing underwear outside his ski clothes. As he introduced himself, he told the class that if he fell, they should throw snow on him... but that they couldn't do it on purpose. Of course, 10 minutes in to the class, the other teacher was accidentally knoced down by a student; Elianna wasted no time at all. Snow from her, and then the other students, too.

Watching from above, inside, with the other adult supervisors, had elements of comedy. Falls, weird falls, and one fall flat on her back. Fortunately nothing hurt, except pride. It took most of the day to be able to get to the top of the tow rope, even with help from a teacher.

Most if the time that I saw, it seemed she was on her back again, between frustrated and crying. And it's sometimes all a parent can do to stay out. Because, of course, that's not the way she'll remember it. Maybe the time she fell on her rear and slid most of the way down the bunny hill that way. Or maybe the one time, toward the end of the day, when she made it to the bottom of the hill without a fall. I could hear, from the bottom of a nearby lift, her calling to her underwear-clad teacher to see where she was. Mostly, though, that it was fun and she already wants to know when she's going again.