Making Mountains out of Molehills

Last night I had a wonderful evening at the Relief Society Enrichment Progressive Dinner. I feel so blessed to have so many great friends in my ward. We have such a great Relief Society and I am grateful for the care and concern I feel from each of my sisters there. Rachel had a basketball game and Paul managed to take all four kids to the game (she won!) so it made my evening especially nice, knowing that Paul was experiencing a bit of my normal life for a few hours. When I got home, all was quiet and the kids were in bed except for Rachel who was very anxious because she has ski club for the very first time today. Just packing her ski bag caused a few nervous tears. She had planned to ride the bus with her best friend but discovered that she'd be on the other bus because bus assignments are based on the alphabet so that added to her concerns.

I remember well the first night I went skiing when I was about 13 years old. My parents, at great sacrifice, paid for me to participate in ski club. Two of my friends were supposed to do it too but their parents ended up not agreeing to it so I felt really uncomfortable on the way up to Sundance because I really didn't have any friends there. At the lesson, I felt even worse because I was, by far, the worst skier there! Plus I was wearing a hand-me-down ski outfit that my parents got from my Aunt Susan which was a kelly green bell-bottomed number straight out of the 70s. I certainly wasn't dressed like anyone else so this added to my discomfort. During the lesson, I was completely out of control and couldn't figure out how to snow plow. As I flew down the bunny hill at Sundance, moving at what seemed to be the speed of light, the instructor yelled, "Sit down!" So I did, right on my skis, which only made me go faster. At that moment, as I headed down the mountain, I thought I would surely die. Then my teacher screamed, "Sit sideways" which I did, bringing about a major wipe out but, believe me, I was so relieved because the scary "ride of death" was finally over. After I made it down the hill with the help of my instructor (FINALLY) we had free ski time. I rode the lift one more time and after falling about 10 times, I took off my skis and walked down the mountain where I called my mom and told her I would never, ever go back. She refused to let me quit, thank goodness, and the next week, I learned how to turn and I was soon one of the best in the class. I made a friend to ski with and before long, I loved skiing.

Needless to say, I'm a little nervous for Rachel's first night of ski club as well. Hopefully, she'll be just fine. She's a lot more coordinated than I ever was so I'm sure she'll do great!