Good Things Come to Those Who Wait

Or…something.
Yeah, yeah, I know, I have been saying I have this post in the works for a bit now….*smacks hand*. Anyway, sorry. This week has been really trying. And some things are going on right now that are quite…well…let’s just say potentially life-altering. And not in the good kind of way. *sigh*
So, anyway, this post was originally supposed to be a little bit of nostalgia about my skiing days. (You saw that one coming, didn’t you?) So I’ll stick with that for now. When I was 7 years old, my mother had moved in with a man who eventually became my stepfather. He had some money, I suppose, and he enjoyed things like golf and skiing, so naturally, we began to go with him. He went skiing at Blue Knob, in Pennsylvania. He rented the top floor of a little A-frame ski chalet a little ways from the bottom of the resort, right in front of the golf course (yes, this was and is an all-seasons resort). Eventually, he and my mother bought the entire house, but for the first three years or so, we were “regular renters,” meaning that we rented pretty much every weekend for the whole season. I remember the chalet SO well. I remember that little thrill of excitement as we drove up the dark little winding lane on the side the mountain in my stepfather’s gigantic Suburban, and we finally saw the sloped roof of the chalet break free from the cover of trees as though it had been eagerly awaiting us. Inside to a homey, warm coziness that has never been matched since. Light the fireplace. Usually we drove the 3 1/2 hours to get there on a Friday night, so it was late when we got there, so we would generally take it easy, and go to bed soon after arriving. There were two bedrooms downstairs, and a walk-up loft with an open space at the top of the steps where there was a bed, then another room with two more beds. Many times we brought a lot of friends with us. The chalet was furnished, and also provided a myriad of games and puzzles that occupied us for many a glorious winter evening. Waking up on Saturday morning, raring to go. Getting all bundled up in ski pants, and making the drive to the top of the mountain. Blue Knob is a bit unusual in that the lodge is at the top of the resort, rather than the bottom. After the first year, we all had our own skis, as well as season passes, so there was no need to wait in lines for tickets or rentals, but sometimes we went into the lodge anyways, to get a quick cup of hot chocolate or play some video games. I became the master of Pole Position in that lodge. LoL.
Then, putting ski boots on, and from then on walking as if we had ski poles up our bums because of the way the boots made our legs stay at a stiff 45-degree angle that, while very conducive to proper ski technique, is very strange for walking. Then off to the slopes to decide which run should be first. Of course, as a child, I was mainly on the beginner and intermediate slopes, but I picked up very quickly, and by the time I was 10, I pretty much could ski any run on the mountain. Usually halfway down the first run, I would make a stop at Melissa’s house. Her parents were my parents’ friends, and their chalet was right on the slopes. You could literally ski down the slope, and right up to their door. I spent many a happy hour there, mostly playing Atari (yes, Atari….ah, the memories!). They also had a hot tub set about 50 yards from the house in a little enclosed building with screened walls, even closer to the slope. You could sit in that hot tub and watch the skiiers come down, and laugh at them when they wiped out, looking around sheepishly to see where the laughing was coming from.
When we were finally exhausted from the day skiing (and we really did ski pretty much all day, and sometimes into the night as we got a little older, at least on Saturday), we either went back to the chalet or stayed at our friends’ chalet for a while. Usually occupied with Trivial Pursuit, Gin Rummy, Atari, or checkers, or playing some tape as loud as we could get it and singing along tunelessly at the top of our lungs. LoL. I think I have some pictures from those days, I will have to find a way to scan some in.
Sundays, sometimes we skied, sometimes we didn’t. More than likely we did for at least a little while. We always tried to leave at least by 4pm, so we could stop and have dinner on the way home, then get home in time for everyone to get enough sleep, and/or to drop off anyone that had come with us for the weekend.
I have so many stories about those times that it is truly hard to pick just one, so I think this time I will just stick to the outlines of the entire wonderful period of time. Yes, it was a very happy place for me in my childhood. It was a place I could be safe. My stepfather would never dare touch me while we were there. In part because of all the people that were usually there with us, but also because my mother was always there. So, because of that, I have (mostly) untarnished, pleasant memories of an awesome sport that I eventually became extremely good at.
I only wish that all of my childhood memories could have been as happy.
OK, so maybe this wasn’t as long of a post as I have been hinting at. I have been fully unable to concentrate. Yesterday, I filed my first missing person’s report ever. I never thought I would ever need to do something like that. I haven’t seen Corey since Thursday afternoon. He hasn’t answered his cell phone, he didn’t take anything with him, and he hasn’t been back in this house at all. To say that I am majorly freaked out would be a gross understatement. At first I was pretty much inclined to believe he just took off with someone for the weekend, hell, the ways things have been going, it seems to have been leading up to something like that in any case. But…..it really is so out of character for him to just…not be in contact in any way. As bad as things have been, he has never been irrationally irresponsible. And I just can’t see him not having any contact with his son whatsoever in so long, for whatever reason. Or maybe I am just still naive, even after all these years of bullshit. I really don’t know. So, I filed the report. Let’s hope I find out SOMETHING, good or bad.
[EDIT March 12, 7:45 pm] Ok, so, yeah, he came back last night finally. And this is the last I will ever mention about that. I have much better things to spend my energy on. [/EDIT]