This year, we went back to Radstadt and Obertauern, Austria, the towns where both boys learned to ski and swim. And now snowboard!
I signed us all up (Bob and me too) for a three-day snowboard class through the Blue Tomato Snowboard School in Obertauern. Needless to say, the boys picked it up faster than Bob and I did. By the end of the first day, Philip could snowboard, and Alex got it right at the beginning of the second day. For Bob, it clicked on the third day. I, on the other hand, got the backside and frontside turns down, but since I couldn't link them together I couldn't carve. Bob took a video of me and I didn't look as bad as I thought, but I still can't call myself a snowboarder.
Fifteen or so years ago, Bob and I tried snowboarding. Since we didn't take lessons, we spent a lot of time rolling in the snow. Back then, the frustration came not from falling but from not understanding how to turn on a board strapped to both feet. This year, my frustration was completely due to a fear of falling and hurting myself. When I was younger, I was afraid of making a fool of myself. Hurting myself didn't frighten me, because I knew I would heal. Now I'm not so sure. When Alex was 2-years-old, I hurt my back picking him up, and I can honestly say that my back has never been the same. During our second class, as I was trying to make a backside turn right after a frontside turn, I fell hard and hit my head (thank goodness for helmets). I had a slight headache, but it was my neck that really hurt. My neck that is connected to my back that has never been the same! Remembering how much my back hurt and how hard it was to walk when I hurt it initially affected me during the entire class on the third day. It's hard to learn and improve when you're afraid.
I promised myself that I would try again next year--maybe by then I'll forget the pain. I'll first try it on my own, because I do now understand how to turn the board, and then decide if I need more lessons. I may need a lesson just to learn how to get on and off the lifts, because I definitely never got that part right.
Of course, we also enjoyed the Austrian Alps and did some hiking with Oscar (see Oscar's blog).
