Night skiing is something I wanted to love as a kid but it was cold and icy and hard to see. I had convinced my family to go night skiing because I had been invited by my crush Brendan recently and now I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever heard of. It sounded so romantic and fun to be out at night on the slopes. The night and the mountain all to yourself. We went to Gunstock and my aunt Caroline took the first run of the night with me. Well, we rode the chairlift up together anyway. The ride on the chair that night was magical. She must have been inspired also because she suddenly started singing “Somewhere over the rainbow”. I remember it sounding so beautiful and sweet up high over the dark sky above, and whiteness of trails, outlined by the trees below.

But once I was on the slopes I realized skiing at night kind of scared me. The loud snow-machines made it hard to concentrate and not as romantic as I’d hoped. Not to mention they would blind you when you went through them. I rushed down the mountain and was anxious to meet back up with everyone again.

Today we were doing daytime skiing so I was relieved. I was going to a trail my sister and her friend were ahead of me so I was on my own. There was not too much snow so they were making snow around the clock.

Speaking of visibility, going through the snow-makers was like being blasted with snow momentarily if snow was put in a hose and sprayed all over you. I went through a few and was skiing at a pretty good clip when all of a sudden there were two men stopped in the middle of the slope talking. I had just gone through a snow-maker’s snow so I had no time to react. I decided the only thing to do was to ski right in between them and jump over their ski tips. So that is what I did. I yelled “Sorry” as I flew through. I landed barely with my butt on my skis and I was able to stand up and finish the rest of the run.

I told my sister and her friend Meghan when I got to the lodge. I was ready to call it a day but my Dad said I had to go get back on the horse and try again. I hesitated but eventually with some coaxing from Suze and Meghan too I did and the rest of the ski day went off without a hitch. I still wonder what those men must have thought of a kid flying through and almost ruining their skis. I thought to myself, “My Dad was right about the whole get back on the horse thing–whaddya know!” I was grateful for skiing and still having my life.