It was never the plan to be a ski family.
For starters, skiing demands physical agility (of which I have none), a need for speed (also none) and a love of cold weather (I prefer my weather to leave me sun-kissed and pit-stained). Plus skiing demands SO MUCH GEAR and all that times four kids (we literally fill the entire back of a truck every time we go skiing), so I guess what I'm saying is that I can think of plenty of ways to spend all my money while also being humiliated, and skiing is not one of them.
But then the first of the four kids entered middle school and signed up for ski club and all it took was one reckless run down the "mountain" for my thrill seeker boy to fall in love with the rush of the slopes. Then one by one by one, the other three kids tagged along on ski nights until soon enough, they were all hooked.
So here we are - a family that skis. (Not to mention, we live 18 minutes from the ski "resort," which according to rural geography means that the resort is in our backyard.)
And the best part is that skiing is one of the very few activities that all four kids enjoy, and even better, they enjoy doing it together. It's straight-up magic.
Let me be clear. I don't ski. But I am the absolute best lodge mom, and every good ski family needs a solid lodge representative, and so this is my sacrifice to the team. I'm exceptionally gifted at swapping out wet gloves for dry ones and fetching snacks and keeping a warm seat saved by the fire.
If I could stretch this post to offer a bit of advice it would be this: Stop trying to squeeze your plans into the life that God is planning for you. Just stop it already. Pause a minute and take inventory of what is right before you - the time, place and season that you are in right now. Maybe there is something right in front of you that is meant to be - better than your narrow-minded pipe dreams - and if you would just embrace it, whatever it is, the magic would unfold.
I'd hate for you to miss out on the wow that is available right now because you are too darn occupied with the never-quite-right plan you've concocted in your head.
The unexpected, surprise plans from God are always the best ones.
Take it from me - A less than agile, far from speedy, prefer to be toasty lodge mom who has gone broke thanks to brands such as Giro and Bolle and is going to bed happily sore because she slipped and made an embarrassing scene in front of Park-City hopefuls while trying to walk up a bank of snow in order to watch her ski family do what they love.
It's all grace.
