As I write this, I am winding down from an amazing weekend, filled with laughter and special moments. I am tired from staying up way too late last night, but also energized from the experience of being with a group of people that make me feel so happy.
This weekend was an annual get together with a group of friends that we lovingly call our “Non-Ski Ski Weekend.” It started 17 years ago, when I first joined them on their ski trip. Over the years, as the group has gotten older, there's not much skiing going on anymore. It has evolved into a yearly get together where we all meet up at a hotel with a nice hot tub and spend the weekend touring local sites and just enjoying each other’s company.
From that very first trip, I never actually skied. I personally just don’t enjoy it. But, I was happy sitting in the ski lodge with my book and a drink, watching the rest of the group glide down the slopes. After a couple of years, I offered to organize the yearly trip. The weekend I chose was one of the rainiest we had that entire year, and we couldn’t have skied even if we wanted to!! But we sure had fun just hanging out at the hotel. To this day, I still get teased about the bad weather, but they let me organize it every year now. We’ve had really cold weather, really snowy weather and really beautiful weather. And every trip we've made wonderful memories.
Some years we have a large group, and some years not as many because scheduling is tough. These pictures tell the story; the first is from 2017, which I think was one of our largest groups. And the second was from this year. The group may change size each year, but the smiles are the same.
I am so grateful for the nearly 20 years I have been blessed to know these people. They have taught me what it means to be friends through thick and thin, to deal with life's struggles such as breast cancer, the tragic death of a child, and other challenges that life throws at them. Somehow they power through it all. They are true and genuine, and they tell it like it is, in a very real, no holds barred kind of way. And I love them all dearly for that.
Here’s to many more years of not skiing and making memories!