The Child Skeptic
I was standing in the lift line when a boy, maybe 7 or 8, started speaking to me. He must have been looking at my snowboard, for he said to me, “That must be hard.”
Before I could answer, he continued. “You must have gotten hurt a lot.”
I tried to assure him that “a lot” did not happen, though I did sprain a wrist. Hey, it was a mild sprain, though it did end my snowboarding attempts for the season. (I continued to ski.) But he was having nothing of it.
March 1, 2020 @ 9:44 am
Usually I’m the one talking to the kids saying—how in the world did you do that? I love how willing they are to teach me.
March 1, 2020 @ 10:28 am
It is so fun to ride the lift with youngsters who tell me they tried snowboarding but just couldn’t get through falling all the time. When I tell them I threw my skis away at 50 and took up snowboarding they seem shocked. Makes me laugh but sends a good message that age is just a number.
March 1, 2020 @ 4:04 pm
My first year I wore wrist guards. But halfway through the season I smartened up and got a fairly thick piece of sponge rubber which I placed in a pair of shorts under ski pants — no more bruised and sore tailbone. Landing on my tailbone was the thing that hurt the most. That was 12years ago and I consider myself lucky that I am still boarding at 80years of age.