Winter Sports

This Winter our family took a four-day ski vacation to Park City, Utah. I can’t say enough good things about Park City. Even though there wasn’t a lot of natural snow, the resort was awesome and a great place for skilled skiers or beginners like us. It was the first time we skied in the Rockies and were struck by the beauty of the 9,000-foot peaks around us.  The resort town had great food, shopping and atmosphere albeit at a price.

Overall, we had a great time. Our oldest has never been the biggest fan of winter sports so he sat out on our second day on the slopes. I managed to stay upright 90% of the time and not injure myself or anyone else on the mountain. My wife, as always skied well and our youngest son enjoyed snowboarding. He did pretty well consider it was only his 6^th time on a mountain.

While by every measure the trip was successful, I can’t help but think that our ski adventure was indicative of most extracurriculars in my life. By that I mean we learn just enough about an activity to conduct it safely and then never really dedicate the time to progress in skill.  I can’t help but think we would have had an even more enjoyable time if we were able to explore more of the 100s of runs the mountain had to offer.

As far as winter sports go, it seems like fate almost pushed me to ski. I certainly didn’t grow up anywhere near a ski slope! I actually skied the first time in Missouri of all places. It was during a weekend off at a short Army school. I remember clearly flying down the hill (can’t really call it a mountain) at night, on ice and stopping via crash. I was very sore the next day and probably lucky I wasn’t injured. Helmets weren’t a thing back then, 24 years ago!

Fast forward a few years to married life. It certainly didn’t come up in our courtship but turns out my wife was actually a fairly avid skier in her youth. We married while I was stationed in Germany, so it was only natural, we’d ski! We skied in Germany a few times and even took a trek to Switzerland. Although an ultra-novice, I started to at least be able to control my descent down the mountain.

Next, we moved to New York and the installation where we were stationed had a fully functioning ski slope! This is where I finally took a few lessons and actually began enjoying the sport as the fear of crashing diminished. After the kids were born there have been a half a dozen or so ski trips over the years- Korea, Virginia, North Carolina and now the Rockies.

But this last trip really got me to thinking not just about winter sports but a lot of my pastimes. Perhaps pastime is even too strong of a word. More like dabbling! Hunting, fishing, bowling, shooting, camping, skiing, golf are just some of the activities that I’ve dabbled in through my life. I’ve enjoyed them all, some more than others, but honestly, I never dedicated the time to become an expert at any of them.

I guess I’ve never picked a passion. An activity to dedicate enough time and resources to in order to become skilled. Even in my two favorite pastimes, fishing and hunting, I am a solid amateur on my best days.

I completely gave up golf a few years ago for this very reason. When younger I would play maybe a half dozen to ten times a year, but as I grew older that fell to once or twice a year.  The last time I golfed it was so unenjoyable I said I wouldn’t go back out on a course until I had the time to dedicate to the sport.

I guess I’m just wondering if this is normal. Is it common for us on our life journey to dabble in a handful of interests that we are not particularly good at? Maybe I’m not as good at time management as I think I am. For at least the past two decades, work and parenting consumed the majority of my waking hours. In my estimation, I just didn’t have time to develop a passion…at least that’s my excuse. I admire those who can juggle their daily commitments with their pastimes and interests.

Perhaps when I retire from my day job I’ll ski more, get back out on the golf course or go on a guided hunt. Or maybe it’s just in my nature to dabble. Either way, I’ve got no regrets. I’ve had a lot of fun dabbling in different activities over the years. Even though I am sure I looked quite ridiculous as a 50-year-old man gingerly skiing down the novice runs, I was having a great time with the people I care about the most! Maybe that’s all that really matters when enjoying a pastime.  

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