When Joseph was in second grade he joined the Cub Scouts. Joseph's friends had all joined and he wanted to be with them. That winter the scouts had a day ski outing at Sterling Forest off the NY State Thruway. I helped to drive, and I took Daniel, who was 5 years old with them. I made Daniel ski that day in a private lesson. Joseph strapped on a pair of skis and happily went off with his friends in the group lesson. I left to go sit in the lodge and read a book - peace at last! But a friend of ours saw me and insisted that I go skiing also. I never liked skiing as a kid, I had tried it a couple of times, but my borrowed equipment was ancient and I only had wool socks and blue jeans. The last time I went skiing with my friend Lee, some little kid made fun of us for the jeans, the leather ski boots -and the wooden skis.
Anyway, technology had changed, and I found skiing easy at Sterling Forest in 1992. I went home and told Ray that he should try it - I thought it might get him out of the house in the winter. Before then, he hated the winter. I created a monster. Ray loved it, and before I knew it we were taking ski weekends to Catamount all winter long, as many weekends as we could get away. We started going to Lake Tahoe as a family in the winter in 1994, and continue the Chow winter ski vacation - in some form- to this day. Ray got me a new pair of skis for my 51st birthday. And every chance we could, we would get the boys on a family vacation by making it a ski vacation.
Joseph was perfect for skiing. He was light and flexible and very athletic - in a non-ball sport way. The boys would spend the day together exploring all over the mountain. The last trip we took all together was in December 2006, when we took a long weekend in Vermont. I don't remember all getting together in February or March 2007. Ray had found a used pair of skiis that would have been perfect for Joseph, and was waiting for him to come home to get the bindings.
This week we are on our first ski trip, and it is not so fun laden with so many happy memories.
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