Winter has arrived and with it come ski season.

You know that time of year when people get excited to go down a mountain with two planks strapped on their feet and two poles in their hand.

I’ve gone skiing once in my life. It might probably the only time in my life.

I’m a huge fan of watching skiing during the Olympics. I enjoy watching all the downhill events as well as the freestyle skiing events. I can give or take cross-country but that’s mainly because the US isn’t really good at it so I have no real incentive to watch.

Skiing was not something we did in my family growing up. Both my parent are from countries where snow just does not exist therefore they are not big fans of it. Snow was a hindrance that needed to be shoveled away immediately and not something to play in. Therefore they saw no reason as to why we should pay money to play in snow. Plus we lived at least 4 hours away from the nearest ski resort so it really was out of the question. My youth group never went on skiing trips and I was never invited by any of my friends to go with them so I went 29 years without ever seeing skiing in person.

Honestly it never really was that big of a deal to me missing out on it. Now snowboarding I would have loved to have done because that just seems really cool and the people who snowboard are even cooler.

Then I moved up to the Northern Virginia area and the group of friends I was in had nearly everyone being a hard core skier. Like these are folks that get season passes to the resorts around here, go on ski trips almost every weekend, all own their own skis, and go out for trips out west just to ski. Most of them either grew up in snowy areas where they had to ski (or die) or their families growing up placed skiing as a priority and so they learned at a young age. Clearly I was not in their league.

But as I was trying to do a bunch of stuff before turning 30, skiing once was on the list of things to do. I was invited with a group of friends to go out to western Maryland to a ski resort. Seeing as how I was the ONLY person in the entire group who didn’t know how to ski, I decided to sign up for lessons. First I went out and bought ski pants and ski socks (because normal socks won’t cut it). The lessons were kind of a joke. I barely learned how to do anything in that hour but what do you expect when you’re not paying for personal lessons. Two of my friends (who are rather good skiers) decided to accompany me on my first (and only) trip down the mountain on whatever the easiest slopes were.

I knew I was going to be in for a rough time when I fell down while we were STANDING in line. I then fell getting off the ski lift.

We proceeded to go down the mountain where I just kept falling over and over again. My problem was that it felt like I was going super fast (which I really wasn’t) and that I was going to either a) fall off the side of the mountain or b) keep running into people. Falling isn’t fun at all. You get snow down your pants and getting up is really hard when you’re not used to wearing ski boots. I honestly was afraid I was going to break my ankle again getting up. Plus the goggles I was wearing kept fogging up plus they were fogging up my glasses inside so I could barely see.

I was about 3/4 down the mountain and had fallen down yet again when I just was tired of it all and refused to get up. The following conversation may be more dramatic than what actually happened.

D: I can’t get up. Just leave me.
C. You have to get up. You can’t stay here.
D: Just leave me, I can’t do this anymore.
C: (getting frustrated) Just get up. You’re almost there.
D: No. I’m done. I hate this. *keeps sitting*
C: YOU GET UP RIGHT NOW. YOU GET UP OR YOU WON’T EAT. GET UP NOW!
D: (tries to get up but keeps falling so C has to help her) …..ok

And we eventually got down the mountain (I fell again) and I called it a day.

There’s no photographic evidence of me skiing (thank the Lord), at least not to my knowledge. And I’m perfectly fine with that. I was very sore afterwards.

I just don’t see myself doing it again. It’s an expensive sport and from where I live, you have to travel several hours to be able to do this. Plus it’s a time sensitive activity as it can only be done a few months of the year. I honestly just cannot justify the expenses for it. Do I feel a bit left out because it literally feels like 95% of my friends ski and I don’t? Yes. But then I’ve realized that I’ve tried it and I don’t like it so there’s no point in me wasting money in making myself miserable. I’m NEVER going to catch up with my friends unless I go and pay for high quality lessons and then spend pretty much every day skiing which is never going to happen.

So I’m perfectly content with going snow tubing (THAT’S fun) and/or staying in the cabin by the fireplace drinking my hot cocoa while everyone else goes to ski. Sure I wish I could join them but I’ve accepted this lot in my life. And I’m perfectly ok with it.