What do you learn?

Friday was a lovely day for the Bledsoe kids. I had promised the kids that if it snowed, schools were canceled and the roads weren't that bad, we would go to Stephens Lake Park and sled down the big hill. As we arrived, we noticed a sign explaining sledding safety (yeah right) and that there were no other cars or people...anywhere. So we took it upon ourselves to sled down almost every lane of the hill. At the park, there are 3 good hills: a long, safe fairly innocuous hill, a very steep yet safe, somewhat bumpy hill and a roller-coaster hill with jumps and a - chance to run into trees - hill. Guess which one I liked. When Columbia parks and Rec took over Stephens lake they made an area where there are circular "rings" at different levels on the hill side. Each flat ring area becomes a jump when you go fast enough down the hill and with my mass we go fast enough. The kids teamed up on their sled so they would have enough momentum to get air. It was a hoot.


While we were there a photographer from the Columbia Tribune came strolling down the hill. He wanted to take pictures of us for the paper and we happily obliged. He was out there for about 20 minutes while we went down and marched back up the hill. He was the only other person we saw out that day. As luck would have it, I had to go to work in the afternoon. My boss and I had a communication breakdown. Later that afternoon, these pictures were posted on the Trib's web site and the people at work saw them. Suddenly, I was famous. When the cleaning crew came in at 5:30, one of the worker's asked if it was me in the paper. Yes, yes it was.

So what did I learn? We had intended to go sledding in the afternoon. We decided not to wait. Who knows what could have happened in a few hours to interfere with the plan. (as it turned out, lots) There is always time to have fun. Take advantage of it when you can. That is what I learned from my kids that day. They can be so Zen-eriffic for me.