Thanksgiving

While dozing off on the couch at some point nearing half-time of the Green Bay Packers / Detroit Lions football game today, I received a holiday wishes phone call from a close friend in the UK. She asked what I was doing and, when I told her, she expressed alarm that I was lounging on the couch in front of a televised football game instead of feasting. Silly Brit, how can she not have known that dozing off on the couch during a Packers / Lions game while the turkey roasts in the oven is simply one of many essential components of a successful Thanksgiving holiday?!

Okemo opened for the 2011-12 season today, finally. Given the nature of working in the snow sports industry, this means that over the next five months it'll be near impossible for me to travel to visit friends and family. As a consequence, Thanksgiving is not merely one of the few times during the year when my family gathers under one roof, but it is really the last time that I'll be able to set aside the ski boots and the thermals, and spend my time with people who genuinely don't care one bit about the technical considerations of edge angles, hip angulation, femoral rotation, and dorsiflexion. It'll be the longest stretch during which I do not have to consider my attire in terms of number and nature of layers. For these things, I am very thankful.

On a more somber note, in the midst of getting ready for the season and working to keep busy, there have been a few events in our community of Ludlow, Vermont and at Okemo Mountain Resort that have affected us deeply. Not the least of these was the tragic death this week of our friend and colleague John Donahue. "JD" was a mere 42 years old and leaves behind a wife and baby daughter. On this Thanksgiving, while so many of us are feasting and enjoying time with family and friends, my thoughts go out to JD's family. Some community efforts to help support his family are in the works now, and I'll post information about them here when more information becomes available. In the meantime, on this of all days, I am thankful for having gotten to know JD over the years and to have benefitted from his wonderful spirit. I, and many more of us who knew him better, will miss him. Rest in peace, John Donahue.

As for my family and loved ones, my friends, colleagues and clients, acquaintances, and mere passersby, I am thankful for the energy and enthusiasm you inspire in me to continue to pursue skiing, ski teaching, and ski coaching as a craft, as a passion, and as a profession. Now, having said that, let's all go skiing and riding!