Sign of the Times

This past winter we took a family ski trip to Park City. Leading up to the trip, I was pretty nervous about how it would go.  We left early Christmas morning, took a cab from Salt Lake to Park City and checked in to our hotel room by 2pm.  Gabe and I picked up rental gear, I tried to figure out how to keep all four of us and all of our gear organized in a tiny hotel room and then we met up with a friend for Christmas dinner at a local steakhouse.  Nothing about this day was traditional Christmas for us at all, but it was wonderful in its own way.  I have never had a smoother day of travel in my life.  Everything just lined up perfectly with no waiting or snafus.  Christmas day actually set the tone for the rest of the amazing week.  We met up with some friends an enjoyed our time with them skiing at a really incredible resort.  It was definitely one of my favorite skis trips.

I'm a fairly timid skier.  I can ski down a black diamond, but I simply don't want to.  I don't want to be sore, I don't want to fall and I really don't want to be dragged down the mountain in a sled by ski patrol.  I like to stick to some nice easy blue runs that give me a little challenge but don't threaten my life.

Imagine my panic when I came across this sign on one of the runs in Park City.  There were about 10 of us skiing together and we had been sticking to runs that everyone was comfortable with.  When I saw this sign I immeditaely stopped, pulled up my resort map and tried to figure out what in the world I was being dragged into.

Turns out the sign just meant there weren't any green runs ahead.  I made it down the mountain without any problems but before I did, I needed to stop and take a photo of this sign. In the moment I was thinking about life: no easy way following high school, no easy way once you have a child, no easy way in marriage, no easy way beyond so many points in life.

Now I think this sign is appropriate for these times.  There is no easy way.  We have to choose between different hard things.  Staying home, stalling the economy, missing out on social events, travel, exploring, celebrations and connections are not necessarily easy.  The alternative choices are hard for different reasons and traumatic for so many.

There is simply no easy way, but we can do the blue run instead of the double black diamond.  We can take our time and make wide s turns down the mountain until we get into the clearing.  We can encourage each other to get down the mountain, and we can enjoy the beauty along the way.

It isn't not easy, but it is not impossible.