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Why am I telling you this?
Well, this past weekend, Brad and I had what I'm referring to as a "throwback" date night. No, I know it sounds like we threw back a bunch of beer. We've had those weekends, too, but not this weekend. :) On Friday, after I dropped the kids to the grandparents for a weekend of complete and utter spoiling, I rushed home, started pulling out all of our ski clothes and got ready for a night of night skiing. I have been watching the Facebook photos on Perfect North, Winterplace, and Snowshoe for weeks. Honestly, I was almost mad at a lady who works with me who told me that she was going to Snowshoe for a weekend, but that she would just read a book and not ski. Ugh. I'd love to be going to Snowshoe. Anyway... getting back on track here...
... when Brad and I were first married and living in West Virginia, we went night skiing a lot. I would pack all of our stuff the night before, load it into the car, and as soon as we would get off of work on a Thursday night, we would make a mad dash out of town to hit the slopes. I can even remember us changing clothes in the car, on the way up to Winterplace, just to maximize the amount of time we had on the slopes. We would eat in the car... we would share pizza and water at the resort... whatever we could do to make sure that we spent as little as possible so that maybe we'd get to go again in just a week or two. We would spend the evening skiing/snowboarding as much as possible, taking breaks only when we absolutely had to, and talking non-stop about how amazing some of the little kids on skis were. We made big plans to have our kids learning to ski early... to maybe even move closer to Beckley once our kids were older so that we could get season passes... we quite simply were bitten by the bug.
We spent a few weekends at Snowshoe... it was wonderful. I miss it. Every. Single. Year. One weekend, we drove to Snowshoe in a snowstorm. The roads were so bad that the lines weren't even visible. I look back and wonder what in the hell we were thinking driving up there like that. But, we made it safely (thanks to our awesome Ford Escape and a husband who likes to drive in the snow). And, we had an amazing time.
As with everything, life got busier. We moved to Lexington. Promises to keep skiing and to make annual trips without the kids and with the kids, well, they fell to the wayside. Expenses on this or that came up. Summer vacations aren't something we were willing to trade... babies were too small to go and mom guilt was too strong to leave.
Last year, we took the kids skiing at Perfect North and they did wonderfully. So, making the decision to go without them was really tough. But, I looked at the night skiing rates and times, knowing that it would be a long, late, and probably cold night... a little tough on two kids, no matter how awesome they are. I sent Brad the link, convinced him that it wouldn't be much more expensive than a really nice dinner and a movie, with the exception of the gas money, and decided we would do this. I even decided to try snowboarding, since I've used the excuse that "I can't try to learn to snowboard AND help the kids" for the past two years. It's on my list to learn to snowboard... so I have been pretty excited to get this one marked off. I had no reason not to try. I didn't tell the kids the plan though. I just couldn't bear to see the look on my daughter's face when I told her. :)
So, we left for Perfect North as soon as Brad got home from work. I was sitting by the door waiting on him. :) We stopped on the way up, grabbed Subway for the road, and kept on driving. It was fun. It was like old times. We even laughed about how it felt just the same. I was nervous about snowboarding, just like I used to get nervous about skiing. It felt just like it used to.
We made it to Perfect North in time for me to take a snowboarding lesson, which I was thrilled about. There weren't many people there and my lesson was just me and the instructor. It made it really nice... and I was able to pick up on it so much faster than I expected. It was different than when I learned to ski. I was terrified of falling then. There were people everywhere and I was scared to run into someone. This time, I was ready to fall. I knew I would fall and it wouldn't hurt that bad. I felt stronger. And, I was decent. If I had an entire day on the slopes, I would have it. Maybe not great, but I would be able to go on some long runs. I wasn't able to on Friday. I snowboarded for about 2 hours, then switched to my skis so that I could go with Brad to the top of the mountain and enjoy the few short hours we had. It was great. It was so great that the thought of moving back to West Virginia popped in my head at least five times. It has been years since that thought has even crossed my mind.
We were exhausted at the end of the night... my legs hurt from the workout. I was a little cocky with myself... as soon as I got on my skis, I had felt stronger. My legs were just plain stronger than they were the last time I went. The running is paying off. :) But, with that strength came some arrogance and I skiied faster and harder than usual. I worked myself harder, probably too early in the night, and then my legs were done. We left at midnight... starved and cold... and feeling so good and tired. We stopped at the nearest gas station in town and bought coffee and hot chocolate. We wandered the aisles a few times, looking for a snack. Brad grabbed two Snicker's bars. I grabbed a bag of Funyon's. We were exhausted and hungry... it was a late night... we had stopped with empty bellies, happy to have had finished a great night. I have rarely eaten a bag of Funyon's without remembering that night we moved... but I wasn't sure about Brad. I smiled when he recognized the similarity... it was the perfect ending to our "throwback" night.
And, for the record, we drove in snow to get home, too... but we could actually see the lines on the road for most of the way. :)
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