Snowboarding... sort of

I have determined that nothing can be as momentarily relaxing as lying flat on your back and staring up at a glorious sky while having a snowboard attached to your boots. Yes, the snow seeping down my pants was not all that pleasurable of experience. Nor was the impact of my face into the snow as I fell head over board down the small beginner's slope. The burning I experienced as my face slid against the snow was also more than joyful but I have to say that the best part was ending up in what I deemed my final position.

Lying most uncomfortably on my back with my snowboardalmost parellel to my body I had merely felt that my left boot and unattached from the board itself. My arms spread apart in manner of being strung to a cross, I foolishly tried to lift my head to see the situation that had befallen me. A sharp pain rose through my neck and promptly laid my head back down on the icy snow.

Deciding at this point it was best just to wait for the Ski Patrol I had glimpsed running in my direction, I glanced up at the clouds as they drifted overhead. It was indeed a beautiful day. You don't seem to really apreciate a nicely done cloud formation when your going about your every day life. It was quite peaceful laying there hearing nothing but the gently crunching snow. It was just enough to tied me over before the undescribable pain overtook my right foot, still attached to the board mind you, as the Ski Parol tried to pick me up off the cold, wet, snowy ground.

Now as pain rushed through my leg and up through other parts of my body, I looked at the Ski Patrol and said with much sincerity in my voice, "Please, just put me back down." As odd as my request must have been from the expressions on their faces, the did as I requested and placed me back down where I was. I proceeded to lay there, no longer comfortable since the Ski Patrol had interrupted my serenity. They removed the board, almost my leg, and helped me hobble back to the lodge.

For that brief moment, between the realization of pain and the numbness of my body, I experienced an elightenment. I don't like to ski nor do I like to board. But the sky in November on that mountainside is the most glorious things to look at when you are lying flat on your back.