as they race

I always knew I wanted my children to learn to ski when they were little.  It is so much more difficult to learn as one gets older.  I can honestly say that both of my children are already better skiers than myself.  This is a great thing.  I never really gave much forethought to ski racing, but now here we are.

Our winters have become consumed by dreams of snow, ski gear cluttering the whole house, the smell of wax in the garage, and nearly every day spent on one slope or another.  I love the little hill that Drew and Phoebe have their clinics.  It is as family friendly as it gets and I feel very safe dropping them off and sending them on their way.  They get great exercise and time with friends and a good coaching staff.  The focus is on fun and friendship for the littler kids.   We do our best as a family to keep it light as well.  We all know Phoebe is an athlete, and will be as she grows up.  I struggle as I write this because I do not want to label her, yet it is so very apparent that this is who she is.  The coaches are drawn to her and they see it too.  She won this last race by 4 seconds (which is like 4 minutes in regular time) and she is getting a bit of a big head about her.  I want to tread lightly here, I want to find the best things to say to her to keep her humble and gracious.  I want to find the right words for Drew, who is a tremendous skier, but not bringing home the gold medals like his little sister.  These are the things in parenting that fluster me, what to say, what not to say and how to just hold the space for them to communicate anything they need to say.  I wish there was a manual for this part of parenting.  As I write this Drew and Phoebe are clumping around in their ski boots getting ready to go ski with friends for the afternoon.  I am taking a much needed day at home to play catch up on cooking and laundry and maybe a little knitting.  Tomorrow we will be back on the slopes as a family, and I will be biting my tongue and searching for words and that mysterious manual, but most importantly cheering as loud as I can, as they race.