Sabbatical

To a mother, one day alone is the equivalent of a 3-month sabbatical for non-mothers.

I had the good fortune to have to drive my son to Sunday River for the day…and chose not to ski myself. I discovered it’s so much fun to be at a ski mountain and NOT ski.

Where I’m normally in ski-boot-amputate-my-calves pain, freezing cold, and laden down with the weight of too many layers of clothing, ski equipment and 100-pound bags of gear (and again, the damn boots), instead I traipsed all around the grounds in warm, soft winter boots, my favorite jeans, and a fleece and down vest, believe it or not in January.

I was also fortunate that we are having such an unusual winter that it was nearly thirty degrees and sunny when it surely could have been ten and overcast. The difference, in Maine, between ten degrees and thirty is vast. (Naturally, I fear global warming, but it sure is more comfortable with practically no snow and balmy!)

As Ben headed to the slopes, I took a long walk to the right, up steep mountain roads and could just feel the roundness slipping off my butt! Then, I explored by car every dirt road at Sunday River including the side-of-the-mountain-scary one to the Grand Summit Resort, which, with snow blowing and other-worldliness way up there on the mountain reminded me of The Overlook in The Shining.

I took photos, smiled ear to ear, basked in the quiet and sunshine. Brunch was a spinach omelet and a bloody mary overlooking the mountain’s trails, again the sun streaming in the gi-normous windows in the ski lodge/restaurant.

After lunch, it was another long walk to the left, stopping to look at babbling, icy cold streams, ice completely broken through due to the high temperatures. I stopped and looked; I meandered; I smiled and did whatever I felt like all alone.

As Ben and a friend hopped into the warm car at day’s end, beat from a day on the ski trails, he asked if I’d been OK alone All day.

“Oh, yes…..” and a big smile was all I needed to respond.

We both rode home happy, spent in a good way, and rejuvenated.

Photo: Sunday River Ski Resort