Anything For Love – Bumps, Bruises, and Burns Along the Way

Written by Kate Meeks Tuesday, 19 August 2008 21:35

He was my very first love, first kiss, first feeling that I couldn’t quite describe, and I was his. We were so young though and just before the snow season started he and I parted ways. I knew that this would be ok, not because I would ever move on, but because we had a whole life time to find our ways back to each other.

We worked at a ski resort together and that winter and I was forever trying to make my impression on him. I figured that when he was finding the freedom, independence, and adventure that he was looking for, he would see that I too was finding those things, and conclude that we could do all of that together and that it would be even better.

Trying to impress this upon him while working in a run down ski chalet’s cafeteria was quite difficult though. When it was time to bake the giant chocolate chip cookies, the ones that made parents wonder why ski club wasn’t helping their kids lose their baby fat, well I wouldn’t just bake them. I hand shaped each into hearts, snowflakes, animals, even the circle ones were suns and moons as I handed them out with a smile to my regulars.

And what crazy girl would take on the very most dangerous and dreaded job of all, emptying the fryer at the end of the night, well that would be me of course! Anyway it couldn’t be that heavy. I saw that by the time a full day’s orders of French fries and chicken fingers had been made, half the grease vat had dripped onto the floor anyway. I realized maybe that wasn’t such a convenience as I sailed in the air, landing on my tush, a bucket of congealed fryer remains landing on top of me. And that was just what I did at work.

Out on the slopes I would be the fearless girl that dropped in the half pipe, that played chicken with the trees just like the boys . . . that accidentally fell off the chair lift and had the entire hill shut down.

That winter passed, and quite a few after that, but eventually my first love came back. I had traded in mountains for the ocean and was living in Florida. He flew half way across the country to tell me in person that he loved me and was never able to forget me. He confessed that he almost gave up pursuing me because I seemed so independent, adventurous, and free.

Each year that we go home to visit our families for Christmas and New Years, as husband and wife, we make sure to take a trip to our ski hill. Even if we can’t get in a ride we park at the bottom of the hill and talk about that winter.

Editor's Note: The views are exclusively in the authors' perspective and do not necessarily represent the views of the Web site or its management.

Sandra D. Bricker's book, Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas, is available at Amazon.com!