Life On A B-I7

Keep Your Expectations Under Control

I woke up this morning to 3 inches of fresh snow on the back patio. In early April, that is considered a good thing if you’re a skier. I packed up my gear and headed up to Mt. Bachelor. Yes, there was fresh snow there as well. The downside is the fresh snow was sitting on top of some crunchy bits, and here and there, some scraped-off surfaces. That makes skiing a bit harder work than it would be in mid-winter, but considering it’s April, I’ll take that any day.

It was a fun day of skiing. I stuck to the edges of the slopes and occasionally ducked into the trees where I found unpacked openings. That was the best part of the day, as well as simply working on the skill set I’m currently focusing on.

I need to preface this paragraph with a disclaimer. A loved one recently reminded me not to focus on myself too much, and also not to be focused on what other people have to say about me. That said, when good things happen, I think it’s okay to share, as long as you don’t make it a daily habit. Yesterday when I came off the mountain, the ski shop manager stopped me in the lodge and told me she saw me on the hill, and she said that I was “a pretty skier.” I’m going to take that as a compliment. She might have been talking about the color of my ski pants and jacket, but I’m going to choose to think she was talking about my skiing technique. The reason this makes me happy is I have been working very hard this season to advance my technique to the next level. I’ve had some success at doing that. Frankly, the success has exceeded my expectations. I tend to “Keep your expectations under control,” that way “You just might surprise yourself to see how far you go.”¹ This season has been surprising in that regard. I’m especially happy I can still learn new physical skills, even at 70. I’m also aware that is not going to continue into infinity…