This is my most embarrassing memory:

My senior year of high school I was a member of the ski team.  Mostly I did it just for fun and to learn to be a better skier, as I wasn’t very good. Usually I had the worst time and the only people I beat were those who injured themselves or missed a gate…oops.

Anyhow, at one of the mountains (our home mountain to make things a bit worse), you either had to go down the most terrifying moguls of your life or climb up the mountain in ski boots.  Well my preference was to go down the deadly moguls on my butt, whilst carrying the skis in my arms. Better down than up…. The rest of the team thought it sounded fun to climb up the icy hill in ski boots. Did I mention the hill is very steep?

Obviously I thought it best to stay with the team in case I found myself with a broken rib in the land of the moguls, so there I found myself kicking the toe of my boot into the nearly vertical side of the hill.  With half the team in front of me and the other half behind, desperately juggling my poles and skis, my boot decided not to create friction with the snow and slipped behind me.  Backwards on my stomach I slid down the hill, my equipment following quickly behind. I fell almost the entire way back down to the flatter part of the trail.

Again I started trekking up and again….in nearly the exact same spot, I went down again.  This time I managed to flip around so I was on my butt. One of the coaches reached out to grab me before I but I slipped through their grasp.

I don’t actually remember how or when I finally made it up there, but I know I did. And oh man did I feel like an abysmal failure for falling ALL THE WAY down the hill not just once but twice.

Anyway…I relived this today whilst sledding with Kate and Liz and Liz’s Brother & Co.  We had some great red torpedo sleds that provided no cushion whatsoever on the rough and icy, bumpy hill at the Dartmouth Golf Course.  The hill there is amazing, but really long and fairly steep.  I managed to climb it twice without incident, though in the back of my mind I thought about how very likely it would be for me to relive my most embarrassing memory. And sure enough, my third time going up I slipped and landed on my knees. Luckily, I did not actually fall back down the hill and was able to brace myself there. But I absolutely could not get to my feet.  So, fairly paralyzed in fear that I would slide all the way down like a major tool bag, I passed my sled up to Liz who had a close call herself, and climbed the rest of the way up on my hands and knees.

And that was how I relived my most embarrassing memory ever today.  Lucky for me my most embarrassing memory really isn’t that bad all things considered. It was actually quite fun sliding back down the hill were it not for needing to climb back up it after the fact.