I married into a family of water skiers. BestestHusband and his siblings have been skiing for so long none of them remember actually learning to ski. So any time the family gets together in the summer, waterskiing ensues.
Back when BestestHusband and I were dating, I had my first chance to learn to ski. It was August in the lake country of MN. A cold August. And a cold lake. My lesson involved, "keep your skis together, and hold on." Well, I got hypothermia before I actually got up on the skis. I did a little bit of kneeboarding, but no skiing.
My next few summer gatherings involved me being either pregnant or postpartum, and skiing was not even considered.
But this summer, well, this was my chance to learn. The lake was warm, the weather was warm, and hypothermia was not a concern. Both of my nephews got up on skis. What could be so hard about it?
Well, there's a reason everyone else in the family learned to ski as kids. It's not a simple thing for a 35 year old woman to just pop up on skis. I even tried the kids' trainer skis.
A variety of factors come into play here:
I'm not athletic by nature
I have a horrible sense of balance
I don't like feeling out of control
I don't like falling
I'm still nursing a bad back
I have very poor upper body strength
I'm not very competitive by nature
I don't really trust that my ski instructors are giving me all the info I really need for success
I don't really feel the need to waterski right now
Obviously, the last factor is the most important one here.
If I really wanted to ski, I would figure out a way to get up, despite all of the other factors. But after a few half-hearted attempts, I decided to leave the skiing to the real skiers.
I do not waterski. And for now, I'm ok with that.
I do not waterski either, despite spending a summer in Iowa going out on a boat with waterskiers every Saturday (who says going to church doesn't have side benefits? It was the Pastor's boat). I tried. I failed. Until I was too tired to try anymore. I was in very good shape from swimming 3km 5 days a week. It didn't help. I think it was because I'm not that coordinated - learning to swim took me a long time but I just kept on practicing that.
ReplyDeleteAll they told me was to keep the skis parallel. I was close, but no cigar. And I was so sore the next couple of days I didn't feel the need to try again that summer - I just enjoyed boating and swimming, and watching the others ski.
Sometimes discretion is the better part of valor. And remember, if you learn when you're a kid you don't have as far to fall, you're more flexible, and you heal faster. Plus when you're older you don't necessarily remember the learning part, even if it was hard.