This weekend Danny and I went away to Giant's Ridge. It's a ski resort where we spent an afternoon cross country skiing and lots of time hanging out with friends, Kim & Jared. The resort is in far northern Minnesota, near a little country town called Biwabik, not 10 minutes from the town of Embarrass, MN. Embarrass's claim to fame is that it consistently presents the lowest temperature in the continental 48 states. This weekend, it was cold. Not record breaking or anything, but look-at-your-breath and mini-icicles-in-your-nose cold. It snowed non-stop until Sunday morning, and I was just like a kid - fascinated with the sparkling snow. I'd forgotten how much more sparkly it all can look when you're so far away from the crowded city.
I remembered that I like cross-country skiing. I love defying the cold with invigorating exercise. Even the up-hill struggles and the blisters I inevitably seem to get on my feet are worth it. And this time it was better than I’d remembered. The intimate silence of the woods and the perfect companionship with my husband, and my re-forged relationship with the winter. It was indescribably beautiful. The only drawback was that I had to come face-to-face with the fact that I'm not always such a great teacher. It's now been proven that as a cross-country-ski instructor, I'm a complete failure.
The whole concept of long skis and poles taking you up and down hills and through the woods and snow is still a very foreign thing to my Danny. Of course. (Did I expect it not to be?) And I did manage to show him pretty successfully how to navigate the uphills. It was the downhill slopes that were the real problem. I soon learned that saying Bend your knees, just really isn't enough. What might have been better would have been if I'd said, Try to pretend you're sitting, and then, if you feel like you're going to fall, just sit down. Then you'll fall on your butt and not flat on your face. Unfourtunately, I thought of that a bit too late. Instead, on the steepest and longest downhill slope we came to, I watched proudly from the bottom of the hill as my husband started very confidently down the hill. I was sure he'd make it. He was doing so well. Just at the very bottom of the hill he seemed to move almost in slow motion, into a diving faceplant. I told myself, Do NOT laugh at your husband right now! That is the last thing he needs. But I had to hide my face in layers of jacket to keep him from seeing or hearing my giggles.
That was when I realised how he must've felt when we went body surfing in the ocean a few months back. The "small-ish" waves that the Aussies claimed would be the ideal way for me to learn the sport of ocean swimming towered over me. They were more than double my height. Even thinking about them now makes me shiver. Danny had no fear for me; he was sure I'd take right to it. This wave is just perfect, he told me. When I say go, jump into it and let it carry you. I didn't even have time to scream at him -- What the heck are you talking about? I don't know what that MEANS! -- before it was upon me. And it mercilessly swallowed me whole. And spit me back out in such an un-graceful way that the ground and I merged, and the sand clung to me in ways I never really knew it could before. I suffered the wrath of those waves 3 more times before I decided that body surfing is definitely NOT a sport for me. Danny was a little disappointed I guess, that he couldn't teach me to love in one hour something he'd grown up doing. And I know he tried hard not to laugh at me. But I left him in the water and went back to relaxing and chatting on the beach -- something I'm much more skilled at.
I guess marriage is all about learning and growing, and accepting. And we're both very glad that it's also about forgiving your spouse when they can't help laughing at you just a bit. And picking them up when they fall. And loving each other in all kinds of weather.
Anyway, we had a really nice weekend away, and now we're back in the cities. Hope you've had a good weekend too. More later. Alicia & Danny :) 
