Do you believe that everything is for the best?
Our skiing trip put that idea severely under scrutiny.
Our trip started in the severest blizzard we’ve seen in years. In the middle of the night, 10 miles away from our final destination, we get stuck observing the magnificent rear of an Amazon truck for a couple of hours. Nothing! – neither a shovel from a friendly Amazon truck driver, nor friendly passer-by drivers could get us driving. Reading and singing to help kids relax – well passed midnight! – hardly brought any soothing to anybody’s anxiety. Hours later, on a freshly deposited coat of salt: we crawl, only to get stuck again half a mile away from the house. At that point, we just braved it on foot, eager to finally get the kids in bed.
Weather report: -2, feels like -16. Yep, F. That is F$%#ing cold. Nobody’s favorite. Not even sure I’ve ever skied in such a harsh cold…
Embarrassed to admit: “left” and “right” make me baffled. And that comes from a professional photographer, directing people, families, during photo sessions in my studio in Middletown NJ, ha-ha? Well, nobody ever figures whose “right” or “left” we are talking about, so mirroring works as a lot more comforting and reliable way to ease into the most flattering position. Yet this impediment really gets me now: my magnificent green self-attaching ski-poles – I love tinkering with them so much, – are strapped onto the wrong hands. Yes, I could read “left”, and “right” – just wasn’t aware which one is actually the right ones! Well, tinkering did not work out: for the first time! – I dropped a pole off the lift! On a cliff. Deep in the forest. With the closest trail being an ungroomed black diamond across the wooded area full of fluffy snow. Any attempts to traverse it – ended with both of us stuck waist-deep in a snow, hardly able to move…
Wait… that’s not all. My boot made my leg hurt so obscenely! – I needed Advil just to be able to strap it tight.
How is that for a great vacation?
Yet, it was one of the most amazing ones we ever had.
As hard as it is to believe this, each of these circumstances was a stroke of luck!
If we wouldn’t get stuck so severely, we wouldn’t rush to splurge on winter tires the next morning. NO WAY, we could get to the mountain without them! We were sending some gratitude to those hours in the snow every single day our snow tires got us smoothly over the icy hill to the ski-resort parking lot!
If it wasn’t so cold on the first day – every following one (still bitterly cold!) – wouldn’t feel like a blessing in comparison! Every degree (6F? 9f?) – felt like a gift :))
If I wasn’t trying to recover my pole – we wouldn’t have the courage to try that ungroomed black trail – after a really challenging trip over icy blocks, crazy drops, and a wild encounter with 7 snow blowers – I did emerge looking like a snowman, but what an adventure, haha!
The most surprising: the boot pain slowed us down. Time lost? Pole gained! Arriving at the spot where I dropped it much later than we anticipated, right from the lift – we spotted someone skiing away with all the dropped poles that he gathered along that rocky path! If we didn’t happen to be right above his head at that very moment – my pole would beacon me from ebay, not the cliff. Madly waving its green twin, I convinced the dude to reunite them 😉
Yes, even the pain turned out helpful!
So, everything is for the better; happy ending following at the end.
And if it isn’t that happy just yet (yes, my Ukrainian flag-color bracelets never leave my wrist) – it just isn’t the end yet.
What do you think? Does everything come for the best, or…?
