SNOWBOARDING

Once upon a time before I had extreme responsibilities to not get injured in some reckless way I used to ski! I wish I had a picture of my sister and I back then because we were absolutely hilarious. The last time I was out on the slopes was about 12 years ago. My family used to go up north a lot and my dad, sister and I loved it. My mom hated being cold (still does) and was more than happy to sit in the chalet by the fireplace all day while we were flying down the hills. One of the things I had to give up for gymnastics was skiing. At the time I was more than happy to because I knew I couldn't risk getting hurt, but for the first time in my life I could be out there again. I've been talking and talking and talking about getting back into it for awhile now, but didn't really know were to start. Enter Brianna :)

Brianna is one of my best friends from high school, who has always been there for me. She is one of those friends that you can go to with anything and she would never judge you. I've leaned on her shoulders many times and vented about training, family, boys...you name it. We rarely get to see each other now that we're at different Universities, but over winter holidays she just called me up and told me to get myself up to her cabin. It was a pretty spontaneous decision and I literally drove up to Collingwood for not even 24 hours to get a crash course in...you guessed it...SNOWBOARDING!!! Her family took me in and gave me all the equipment necessary so I didn't kill myself (well I think they were keeping their fingers crossed) and we were off!

Once I was actually at the top of the hill, which was let me tell you the funniest experience of my life getting there, I found out it was even more difficult to stand up once I was strapped in. For all of you who have never snowboarded before, trying to walk with one boot strapped in and your foot awkwardly turned in while you're trying to slide/walk to the lift is the most hilarious experience EVER. I'm laughing thinking about how ridiculous I must've looked. Anyways, I somehow got that whole part down and once I was actually up and standing I turned to what just felt natural and took off down the hill. Brianna had given me some tips before I actually took off, but do you think I actually listened to her? Let's just say that I took some very hard falls, but I LOVE the speed and with Brianna helping me out and figuring out why I was falling I was actually snowboarding! I have never felt anything like that before in my life. I can't even describe it. Flying down that hill gave me this insane adrenaline that coursed through me. It was unbelievable and I can honestly say I've fallen in love. I haven't been that happy like that since over a year ago and I owe it all to Brianna and her amazingly generous family!!! What do you think? My next sport maybe?