Thanks, Grandma

Taking care of a kid all day is a lot more exhausting than spending a day on the slopes. This is the thought I had while riding a chairlift up Mt. Hood on Monday. It was about 3:30 - The Boy would be napping - and I was ready for my umpteenth run. The snow was fresh. The sky was blue. I would be sore as hell in the morning, but right then and there I felt gooood.

AR and I had spent the morning snowboarding - or trying to snowboard if you want to be picky about it. We had our beginner's lesson and then spent an hour or so trying to make it down the 50-foot bunny slope without falling. By 2 o'clock I felt like I was getting the hang of it. AR had already headed back to the lodge for a nap, but I was ready to trade my board in for some skis. I wanted to see the rest of the mountain - preferably at high speed.

It had been at least a decade since I'd been skiing, and my body was fairly beat up from the novice boarding, but I slipped right back into the old rhythm as if I'd last hit the slopes the day before. What a delight to fly down the mountain with no fear of falling! The conditions could not have been better; there was plenty of snow and no one on the lift lines. The few people I did run into were pretty mellow, in typical Pacific Northwest fashion. In fact, Mt. Hood itself is pretty mellow: nothing terribly steep and almost no moguls. Did I mention the blue skies? It had to be at least 50 degrees and so clear I could see all the way to Mt. Jefferson and the Three Sisters.

Sure, we missed The Boy, who was at home with Grandma and the Once and Future Stepfather. I can't remember exactly when, but I do recall his name coming up at some point. Perhaps it was over cocoa, as we sat with our backs to the fire in historic Timberline Lodge, (where they shot the exteriors of The Shining,) looking out the picture windows onto a mountain vista. Yeah, I'm I'm pretty sure we mentioned him while talking about how much he'd enjoy a day of skiing when he's old enough, and how much we enjoyed our day of skiing, maybe because he's not yet.