Moving Forward

We spent a marvelous two days skiing last week, just after I had decided to take a year or two off from spending money on passes and equipment and braving the ninety minute drive over a mountain! Thursday and Friday were uncrowded - the mountain to ourselves - the weather was gorgeous, and the friends we skiied with were compatible in every way. How ironic that such perfection came at the exact moment I was ready to let go. A friend of mine compared it to a game of golf that frustrated her at every turn - until the 18th green when she sank a hole in one. Hard to end on such a good note, rather than seeing a sign of hope and future possibilities.

After the wonderful but exhausting 48 hours in the mountains we struggled to make up for the lost daylight savings hour yesterday. Daniel and I wrestled with our head colds last night and the big kids walked to the bus stop hollow - eyed and stoop shouldered. Again it's hard to decipher if the coming of spring is around the corner or if our pseudo jet lag and sniffles indicate more winter. It's all a decision, isn't it? How we perceive our situation really makes it or breaks it.

I am trying to use this logic to enlighten my current struggles with Daniel and his Brain Highways exercises. We have hit a stumbling block where he can't or won't hear my coaching tips and so our efforts deteriorate repeatedly into power struggles and crying on both sides. I am not allowed to criticize - as Daniel knows and repeatedly points out - but I do, so I know that I am equally at fault, but I boil with frustration when he "cheats" or takes short cuts, as I know that he is not developing any skills with the incorrect technique. Hopefully this challenge is a last hurdle before we cruise into smooth movement forward, a turning point for our dynamic rather than a dead stop. Like a wondrous day of skiing or a perfect ninth hole, I can choose to read it either way.