Snow Trip!

You talk about busy!!  That would be me and my children.  Since I last was able to write it has been intense.

My sister is an amazing woman.  After years of being in transforming mode she has broken into the realm of who she is  and I am proud of her.  After coming home and seeing her next door neighbors door kicked in and calling the police she and I did talk and she calmed down.  She was understandably nervous about leaving her home and going with me and the kids on the church trip to Soda Springs.  She decided to “leave it in the Lord’s hands” and came with us.  We had a good time.  Sisters can be some of the best and some of the worst friends all wrapped into one.  You grow up together, you often times live in the same room from little girls until you are old enough to leave and go to college.  So from baby to “wanna-be-grown’ woman we sleep, eat and breathe each other.  That closeness can breed resentment and it can breed the need to lay awake at night talking and telling each other secrets and talking about people soooo bad and talking about how we can’t stand our mother and what our father did and just mindless and yet very important stuff.  The thing that is most important and most relevant is that we loved each other in a way that was good and bad in one.  We see each other and we compare each one to each other.  In our case, my sister and I, we are different.  Completely and totally different.  She is the kind of woman who you want in your corner if you need to get someone straight in other words, cuss them out for you.  She will go to bat and she will fix the person, not the situation; however, the person will never bother you again. We need these kind of relaties and friends it keeps everying running smooth. I am the kind of person who feels the same exact way; however I don’t act on it.  I am slow to respond.  I appear as if I do not care and I have an air about me that made her feel that I thought I was better than her or anyone.  I did not.  I am not a fighter, not a lover, but not a fighter.  I will think before I speak because I believe words spoken in anger are very, very, very difficult to forget and to get back. However, my attitude or lack of outward emotion is offensive to some and I had to realize that.  I have to check myself and I have. I relaxed when I saw her relax. She and I both came to the realization that all of that talking at night in the bed, hanging out when we were both not suppose to be but were drinking and getting high and dancing and riding bicycles and driving my Volkswagen and hanging was a memory, a soul memory that we both needed to have again.  The past is the past.  As Puumba said the in the Lion King akuna matada! I agree.  And all psychological mumo jumbo aside – I am 49 and she is 47 – this is the time to put on your big girl panties and get on it.  I am glad we have.  I love her more.

The Ski Trip – Soda Springs was beautiful. We got up at 4a.m. and left around 7 a.m. on the bus with about 50 people on a bus.  Last year o the snow trip,  the kids and I sat in the back of the bus because I was just riding.  This year, I sat up front because I was one of the adults in charge. Of course my daughter had to sit right next to me! I love it when she wants to be with me.  I know, time is coming when that will change, so I am enjoying every minute of it. 

We were on this bus with about 10 or so teenage girls between the ages of 12 and 17 – you talk about a moody group of girls.  They roll their eyes, they stomp off, they text, they talk loud and talk back and they are selfish. No one has a job yet they feel an entitlement to whatever they ask for – parents watch out!  There was another group of about 5 girls that were between the ages of 19 and 22 – wonderful!  Centered, quiet, respectful and attentive, still texting however minding their own businesses and not allowing the whole bus to hear what they were saying.  Boys about 20+ ranging from 3 to 25 – wonderful, well-behaved mannerable and one had ‘yes ma’ams’ just pouring out of his mouth and he was 15! Then we had the adults, men and women – and of course we were all fabulous! We had a great time and I am glad we went.  I was exhausted when we finished the day.  My feet were freezing and my legs were tired however I was so glad that I was able to be with my children and the church family and my sister – it was a great day in the Lord.  As I sat there watching my daughter go up and down the slopes on her snowboard and I clapped when she made it and gave her the thumbs up when she fell – she waved and I smiled.  It was if she had just seen me.  Like a puppy that always wags his tail when you come in the door even after the 11th time – she smiles at me. 

I was in wonder at the beauty of the trees that had snow on their branches and the crispness of the air and the warmth of the sun and the blue of the sky. I praised the Lord as I watched my daughter and the other children with their parents.  Parents love their children so much regardless of race, creed or color we want what is best for them.  We want them to succeed and those that were there on Saturday know that investment in them now creates a reward for them later on in life and that reward will trickle down to the parent.   I write to retire at 55 and I will enjoy the rest of the best of my life.

Yolande Barial, Living in Words