Loosen Up

We've had a great weekend with our son, his wife, and our grandson. Jon had meetings here in Denver (we're sitting at the airport) and so we flew in to hang out, ski, and celebrate birthdays--59, 29, and 9 months. It's been a very needed few days in the slow lane.

On Saturday morning I picked up the Denver Post and the Wall Street Journal in the hotel lobby when I made the morning coffee run. Once I got back to the room, however, I realized that I didn't have the heart to actually read them. So I read the funnies and pretended that Washington, DC was on some other planet. It was refreshing. I recommend it. The news about crawling around the floor, pulling up on furniture, and making new noises is far more important anyway.

My son and I skied at Arapahoe Basin despite warnings that Arapahoe, due to its altitude, has a reputation for white-outs. Basically, you end up skiing in a cloud and if you're lucky you can see one bump ahead. At one point I slid down a steeper part of the slope simply because I couldn't see what was snow and what was cloud. About all we could know for certain is where down was. For the most part, I found it all extremely funny and laughed as I slid into white snowy wherever.

Which brings me back to the airport. Due to traffic and what ended up being a wrong turn, we missed our scheduled flight. Driving along knowing the inevitable and then arriving at the airport, checking in, and going through security, I did not find it funny at all. I kept getting tighter and tighter.

Now you can't ski when you're tight. Flexibility allows you to handle the bumps, the icy spots, the changes in slope, and minor errors that would otherwise result in falls. Tighten up and you're on the snow with your skis flying off your feet and your goggles up the slope where you planted  your face. You have to stay loose.

The trick is to translate that loose, flexible attitude that works when skiing into running late for flights, burning dinner, fender benders, and all the various and sundry bumps, icy spots, changes in slopes, and minor errors that are a part of every life every day. No small task, but I'm trying to learn.