Mother Nature's Gift

it's 9:30 am and my boots still sit on the heating vents in the living room.  My ski clothes are draped on living room chairs where they were laid out to dry yesterday afternoon.  It snowed 14 inches up in the mountains last night, and it's still snowing now.  the text on my phone from my touring partner this morning read, "I'm just not feeling it... " 

so here i am at home with the dogs, thinking of all the things i need to do in the next week before i leave for Wyoming for a two-month work contract.

in some ways i am sad, and feel a little bit guilty that i'm not getting up into the Wasatch to take advantage of the foot and a half of new snow.  but at this time of year, people's thoughts turn to other things:  trail running, mountain biking, climbing...  and a foot and a half of new snow seems like a bit of nuisance to some.

but no matter what time of year, when i wake up to fresh snow it always feels like Christmas morning to me.  a gift from Mother Nature.

working at a ski area for 7 years almost stole this love of Mother Nature's gift from me.  some days going up the canyon felt like such a chore and for several years after quitting i still could not muster the strength to enjoy it.  tourists would tell me how lucky i was to be working at a world-class ski hill ~ that while i was teaching them to snow-plow stop on the bunny hill as i listened to others whooping it up on the powder-laced steeps across the way.  there would be no powder skiing for me on those days, and i began to secretly curse the same people who thought i was so fortunate.

so on this day, i will not ski.  i will clean my house and take the dogs for a walk, drink coffee and think instead of how lucky i am that i can pass up a powder day.  i will cherish the fact that i wanted to get out today and that my love of skiing the deep snow still exists deep within my being.  the gift that Mother Nature gave me today will not be opened and the anticipation of what that gift entails will grow until it is revealed another day.