February has been a blah month for me. Hardly surprising, seeing as it's February and all. Back when I was growing up in cold, dark Wisconsin, February was always the time of year when I hated myself, everyone else hated me too, I was brainless and meaningless, I was destined for a dull life without any real happiness, etc. I think some of that might have been teen angst too, since I haven't reached that level of self loathing since 1998.
Even though I love myself now and all, it's still been a bit of a blecch month. I think a big part of it has to do with school, and all the wonderful things it keeps me from doing. I think back to last winter - Oliver and I went cross-country skiing; took weekend trips; had cozy hibernate-ish weekend afternoons where we put together puzzles, watched Battlestar Gallactica and listened to old-time radio on NPR (I love you Ed Walker!). This winter has seen its share of "cozy weekends" spent at home, but all the fun has been sucked out by pressure. Readings, projects, deadlines, etc. Things I don't mind in moderation, but would prefer not to spend an entire weekend thinking about.
Whine whine whine. Ugh. Can you hear the February beast in me? Back beast, back! Into your cave, you... you'll never stand up to the power of... this photograph!
Yes, we went out and had some bona fide fun this weekend. We went downhill skiing. It was the first time Oliver had ever skied at an angle, and I hadn't done downhill since January of 1996. Dang. Oliver has been talking about trying it for the past couple years, and we finally hauled our butts off the couch and went. Result: fantastic awesomeness.
I had the greatest time. We both had the greatest time. It was one of those situations where I felt the hard-core excitement I used to feel as a kid. You know, how you get so into something that you can't bear to stop. Nothing distracts you, nothing sounds "better to do", and before you realize it it's 4 o'clock, the hill is closing and you've forgotten to eat lunch. I was amazed at my own muscle memory. I was equally impressed with Oliver's quick study of what can be a pretty intimidating sport, what with the speed and the crashes and the helplessness you can feel when you're first starting to learn and all. As we stood in line at the chair lifts, we made all sorts of plans.
"All right, so next year we'll go at least three times, and maybe even do a weekend trip somewhere in New England."
"Yeah, and then we could even try a week-long trip the year after that!"
"The Alps! We'll be in Germany for some Christmas in the near future - we could tack on a ski trip!"
"And then we can go to the Olympics!"
"Gold medals!"
Okay, so maybe we got a little carried away towards the end there. Who cares. All I know is, it felt really good to stand out in the sun, making plans.
0 comments:
Post a Comment