Whenever the girls do something wrong, rather than telling them they are bad, I tell them they made a bad choice. Turns out their mom makes some bad choices from time to time too, as I demonstrated quite clearly this weekend. I am even hesitant to write about it here, but I'm going with the idea that all parents make bad choices from time to time. They do, right?
On Saturday, we headed up skiing with our friends, Christine, Jasper and Hugo, who were visiting from Frederick. We lucked out with a sunny, wind-free, good-snow day at Eldora and the kids, Evie, Jasper, Lucy, Hugo and Noni, all had fun skiing together. As we went on more and more runs, Lucy, 6, and Hugo, 5, got the idea that it would be even more fun to ski independently. They began pushing Christine and telling her they wanted to go on the lift without her supervision. They even talked about trying to ski faster than the adults so they could get on the lift alone.
We couldn't help but admire their desire for independence and finally agreed to let them take a lift ride without an adult. And so, while Noni and I stayed at the bottom of the trail to watch Evie and Jasper build an insulated moss house in the woods, Christine went to take a run on her own, and Toby snuck on the lift a couple chairs behind Hugo and Lucy to meet them at the top. A little while later, Lucy and Hugo came down the mountain, with big smiles on their faces. Only they didn't stop to see us, but instead skied straight toward the lift and got in line again.
At this point, Toby also wanted to take one run on his own and so he and I decided that he would follow them up the lift, but then veer off so he could get to a lift that would take him further up the mountain. And Lucy and Hugo would ski down the trail on their own. This seemed like a perfectly reasonable plan until they got on the lift and then suddenly it really, really didn't.
I watched them head further and further up the mountain, swinging precariously above the trees on the chairlift, and all sorts of horrible images flashed through my head. After numerous images of bloody noses and broken bones, my brain settled on the recurring image of Christine, who hadn't given me permission to send her five-year-old down a ski trail on his own, returning before Lucy and Hugo did.
I stood, holding Noni, at the bottom of the trail and waited. And waited. And as I waited, it occurred to me that there are numerous trails to take from the lift and that some of the trails lead to different chair lifts. I stood with this thought for what seemed like eternity. Just as I was about to start hyperventilating, I spotted Lucy in her lime green snow pants heading my way, with Hugo right behind her.
I breathed a huge sigh of relief and wanted to hug them both. Before I could, out of nowhere, like some cartoon superhero, a ski patrol appeared behind them.
"Excuse me ma'am, but are you Lucy and Hugo's mom?"
I took a deep breath. And replied, "Are you kidding me? I am a mature, responsible adult. I would never dream of letting two little kids take to the slopes by themselves. I mean, there are out-of-control skiers up there! Of course I am not their mom and I hope you arrest her when you find her!"
Except actually I said something like, "Yes," in a very small whispering voice.
He proceeded to tell me that, while there are no laws on the minimum age of independent skiers (phew, at least I wasn't going to jail), Hugo and Lucy seemed awfully young to be on the trail alone. And I told him that I couldn't agree more and, don't worry, I'd already thought through all of the awful possibilities. He smiled and then disappeared in much the same way as he had arrived.
A minute later, Christine arrived. Fortunately I got to tell her the "all's well that ends well" story after it had already ended well. I had made a bad choice, but Lucy and Hugo had fortunately made some good choices and gotten themselves down the trail just fine. They left Eldora that day having grown a little, feeling a little more independent than they had that morning. I left having grown a little too, knowing that from now on I will listen more closely to my instincts, and feeling extremely thankful that we drove down the mountain with Lucy and Hugo chatting away happily in the back seat.
