“Are you okay? Should we call someone?” shouted a man clad in a green parka who was sitting on the chairlift passing near by.
“We’re fine!” I answered as I waved back.
And we really were fine. Although I could understand the man’s concern. There I was dressed in my ski instructor uniform lying down on the snow between two trees with three children also lying down alongside of me. I laid back down in the snow, one child started to make a snow angel, while the other two stared into the sky. We stared up into the trees, watching the clouds and the contrails of a passing airplane. At the moment in time, I was thinking what a great day it was.
This winter has been my initiation to teaching kids to ski. At times, I’ve thought, I don’t know what I’m doing. At time, I have doubted my abilities and whether I was making any difference at all. Were they having a good time? Were they improving? I should have tried this drill or that game. All the other instructors are such better than me….
But during that moment, I was blissfully happy. Teaching 5 year-olds to ski, you turn the clock back on yourself, and for a moment remember what it’s like when life is simple. They smile and laugh over the smallest things – spying animal tracks in the snow, making snow angels, zipping through the woods. Lunch is an adventure filled with macaroni and cheese, pizza and tales of Minions and Ninja Turtles. Our latest game is trying to come up with the names of mystery animals who “marry” each other. What do you call a moose who marries a fox? A “mox” of course! And more giggling ensues. I engage in these crazy stories of wild imagination to motivate — if we don’t get going, we’ll just have to camp out here overnight with the bears and the moose. To which, the one 5-year old boy replies in his small voice, “Miss Leslie, are you kidding me?” It’s hard not to smile…
I’ve found any type of gummy candy to be the great motivator. Want to find out how much they can really do? Offer a gummy. One week, it was Dinogummies, the next the Scandinavian Swimmers. For the first week, I kept picking them up off the snow when they fell. At the end of the day I was exhausted. On the advice of another fellow instructor, I brought gummies the next week. But offer gummies as a reward. Offer a gummy, and you find out, they can ski longer, ski harder, and get up all on their own. One of the rewards of ski instructing is finding every kind of possible gummy candy there is — of which I found out there are frogs, bears, dinosaurs, and everything in between.
Next week is our last week together and I’m finding myself thinking how sad I will be to see our time come to an end. And that surprises me. I’ve found the experience to be so enlightening in ways I could never have comprehended. Not only have I learned about the fun and creativity of a kindergartner’s mind, but I’ve learned a lot about myself as well. I’ve learned I have far more patience and understanding with small children than I ever realized. I’ve learned to let go of pushing for results, and to enjoy the moment, go with the flow and have fun. I’ve learned that being silly and simple can make for the best possible experience for us all.
A rare few times in my life, I’ve had jobs that were filled with fulfillment, fun and creativity. My first Park Ranger job was like that, and during that moment of lying on the snow, surrounded by the joy of small children, I had another perfect moment of contentment. All is right with the world.
