Winter

Remember those pictures I was going to take while skiing? That might have just been the worst idea ever.

We arrived at Ski Liberty around 4:30 (it took a good 2 1/2 hours to get there, thanks to the four - four - accidents we passed on the way up; this is my plea to everyone to stop trying to multitask, put your phone down because that person you're talking to would probably like to talk to you again in the future, and just pay attention to the road!). By the time we got our lift tickets and I got my rentals, it was pretty much sunset and the snow was shimmery and the shadows were long and oh, it was simply perfect. And where was my camera? IN THE LOCKER, of course.

There were two reasons for this. 1. The last time I went skiing was about a year ago. That was the first time I ever went down a hill that was longer and steeper than the ones in my backyard. In my imagination, I saw myself somersaulting down the hill using myself as a rolling human shield to protect my camera from the cold icy unforgiving ground. Yeah, it only cost $50, but it should not have to die for this. Poor little camera. 2. Try operating a camera in mittens. If you can make it work, show me your secrets. I might pay you for them.

After a few runs down the bunny slope, I was feeling a little more confident. I got my camera out of my locker. The sun was already below the mountains, even though I sped down the hill the last time to beat it to the bottom. Mr. Sun definitely won. But the light was still okay so I thought I might be able to finish the roll at least.

I took two pictures. Two.

One was all artsy of the patterns in the snow. The other was taken from the top of the mountain. I made Ben start to go down so I could get the sweet snow-spattered mountains colored by the winter sunset in the background with him in action on his snowboard. He started going...I had the camera up to my eye...and he was gone, over the hill, never to be seen again until I met him at the bottom. I have no idea what that picture will look like. Probably just a mediocre landscape.

But, the skiing was fun, the company was great (always my favorite), and we really did have a good time. After all, the day was really about doing the only fun thing there is to do in winter - skiing - and not really about taking pictures. And I plucked up my courage and made it down a blue square (which is one below a black diamond - which makes it sound like more of an accomplishment than it really is) once without dying (or falling!), although the resulting adrenaline rush made it a singular occurrence.

Now spring and all of its not-life-threatening picture-taking potential is welcome to arrive. And if it knows what's good for it, it will hurry itself up.