There is always a first time
Monday, March 23, 2009 at 8:52PM At 36 years and pushing, decided to put on skis for the first time on saturday.
What could prompt such lunacy?
Well, it was one of those blanket IOU's that had been promised to the wife. After listening to the Ramayana since my first memories formed, it looks like I have somehow selectively forgotten the part where king Dasaratha gave such a blanket IOU to his wife and paid dearly for it with massive cardiac arrest when his wife exiled her stepson to the forest just before he was to be annointed the king!
One never learns!
After one of those bouts of work (yes, worked for almost two days straight two weekends ago) where yours truly completely neglected the wife, MIL and kids and played spoilsport with all of their weekend plans, I blurted out:
"I had to do this work for the last two days and I cannot even keep my eyes open. please let me sleep and will do anything, ANYTHING you ask me in the next two weekends!" and went on to sleep for 13 hours straight. (It was actually 12 hours, but the damn daylight savings made it look like 13!).
San has not forgotten the Ramayana. She used Kaikeyi as her mentor and fairy godmother and said "we have been cooped up in the house all weekend for the last few weeks because of your work. We are going to go out somewhere. I have always wanted to Ski!"
Note, there are priors when the wife has said the sentence "I would love to _________".
Once upon a time , approximately ten years ago, when we were just married, the wife would get a present every month on our wedding date. As it so happened, a few days before the fourth monthiversary, she said "I would love to play the piano." So on my way back from work, I decided to surprise her with a full size Yamaha keyboard from what was then Circuit City, something that AR Rahman would have wished his mom got him when he was a toddler!
I bring it home and yell "SURPRISE!" and setup the piano and say "ta da! you can play it now. Come on, show me how you play" and San replied "I don't know how to play the piano. I said I would love to play. Didn't say I know how to..." A slow motion replay of a Courtney Walsh delivery uprooting an Indian tail enders middle stump and ejecting it straight up a dozen or so feet played over and over again in my head. Those were days when Cricket was still followed in the house....
After that episode the wife has loved to do a lot of things without knowing how to. Skiing was one such thing, I inferred. In any case it was time to honor the IOU by banishing myself to the snow and after a long journey in peak traffic we reached the destined hotel on Friday night. It was facing the lake and there was such a wonderful view when we woke up. Some breakfast later, we were on our way to Donner Ski resort on a cloudy saturday morning.
The entire family took turns skiing. Jr. and the little one went first. They did a lot better than the adults, considering they were fearless! The parents did not fare so well. Daddy took the brunt of the falling and came back sore. Unable to support his body weight equally on the van seat, he drove back the entire way like a tilted mannequin.
The first time on skis was not easy, but, yes.. there is a but, I liked it. I might actually go back someday and try it again! Somehow the few seconds of balance on the skis outweighed the slips and falls.
There might actually be a second time!
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