(note: this was written on February 27)
My mom was here in early December, when Beck was about 4 weeks old. After she left, she talked about how she wished she lived closer so she could see him more often. It was the start of ski season, so Paul and I were wistfully talking about going skiing. Coincidentally, Southwest was having a sale on trips to and from Denver, and there’s a direct flight from Raleigh/Durham to Denver, so we took advantage of the deal and bought my mom a plane ticket to come back at the end of February. Yaaay! She was thrilled with the idea of getting to see Beck again, and Paul and I were excited because we decided we would try to ski while she would be here to watch Beck.
So, it’s the end of February and my mom is here. She and Beck are having a great time together. Paul and I started making actual plans to ski a couple of weeks ago. Since then, I’ve been talking about how hard it’s going to be to voluntarily leave Beck on a Saturday. It’s hard enough to leave him during the week, when I have to go to work. Back in December, I was on maternity leave and with Beck 24/7. A ski break sounded wonderful. Now that it’s here, I’m wavering.
Mostly, I’m worried I’m just going to miss Beck and not really enjoy myself. I keep reminding myself it’s important to take some time for myself. I remember some advice I got from my prenatal yoga instructor (I’m probably going to mention the prenatal yoga a lot…it was awesome…each class started with the instructor asking a question, and all the yoga mamas would have a chance to answer and talk about what was on their minds…it was a support group, entertainment, and a work out all in one…it helped me prepare, both mentally and physically, for “natural” labor…yeah, it was awesome). Anyway, Laura, the instructor, told us one day something like “you need to remember the things you enjoyed and made you “you” before you had kids, and try to do those things after you have kids.” Skiing is one of those things. Skiing is about 65% of the reason Paul and I moved to Colorado. Skiing is the last adventure we had before we found out I was pregnant.
Despite my wavering, we’re planning to ski tomorrow. I’m writing this “before” - on Friday - and I’ll plan to post it “after” to see how it goes.
After:
It went well! We skied Keystone with Kent and Lea. We got there pretty much as the lifts opened. Lea and I took maybe 5-6 runs where we were the only people on the run. The morning started out chilly, but it warmed up considerably. We took a long lunch break and sat in the sun. I spent most of my time talking Lea’s ear off about Beck, but we also talked about work and life and had some good laughs. I really had a great time, but I was soooooo excited to see Beck when we got home on Saturday afternoon. Kent and Lea stuck around for dinner, and Dylan came down from Fort Collins. We had thai food and talked and laughed some more. It’s unlikely that I’ll get a chance to ski again this year, and I’m glad we took advantage of the opportunity.
p.s. Paul and I couldn’t get enough of all the little kids on skis. I’m thinking Beck is going to be on skis before he’s even mastered walking.
