we went skiing.

while riding up the lift on our third run AJ decided he ought to check his pockets and make sure he had the car keys. low and behold they were missing. nowhere to be found. no pocket to be filled. somehow i remained extremely calm. it wasn’t a problem. we’d figure it out. we went down the mountain and into the ticket office to see if anyone had turned in a set of keys that had lost their way. nope. we walked back to the car to see if we’d dropped them on the road. nope. we began devising a plan for getting back to the hotel where a spare key laid waiting.  with a feeling of despair slowly settling in we both realized that our day of skiing and fun had quickly come to a halt. what would we do?

suddenly AJ decided we should continue with our day, retrace our original steps, keep looking for the keys, ask every ski patrol we saw, and hope beyond hope that they would surely turn up.

as we rode up the lift we watched along the ground to see if we could spot them. there in the snow below our feet i thought i saw a glimmer of something. maybe those were it. when we reached the top we began retracing our steps. as we headed down we separated as AJ went over to the spot under the lift and i continued down our original  run. as i neared a familiar spot i suddenly had a small epiphany. i remembered a moment on our first run where AJ had slid, kicked up powder, and appeared to have dropped something. at the time i thought i should stop to see what it was but from a distance it looked like small twig or bunch of pine needles so i had continued on my way.

as i remembered this moment, i thought “what if it really were the keys sliding past?” seeing a dark mass in the middle of the hill i approached the spot and slowed to a stop. there glistening in the white snowy powder laid a perfect set of keys resting peacefully just waiting to be found. i sat down in the snow, picked up the keys staring at them. the most overwhelming feeling of gratitude came over me. what a lesson to be learned. i could not believe it.

i scooped them into my pocket, zipped it up, and continued down the hill with a huge grin smeared across my face. as i got closer to AJ i thought “should I play a trick on him? should i pretend i hadn’t found them? should i set them somewhere obvious saying ‘oh look they’re right here’?” No, he’d never forgive me. so once i reached him, i recounted the story of my small epiphany when i had reached the familiar spot on the hill. as i told it, i slowly reached into my pocket pulled out the keys and said, “and there they were sitting in the now.” as he glanced down an astonished looked crossed his face. he couldn’t believe it. he wrapped me in his arms, kissed my face and smiled like Christmas morning. it was amazing. the best feeling in the world and the most amazing blessing during our small little getaway.

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Quote of the Day:
[nefferson’s crying to be let inside]
AJ: “Let me in, let me out, let me in, let me out, let me in so I can go back out.”

[AJ walks into the room carrying an orange]
Me: “Want me to hold your orange?”

[Talking about a gift]
Me: “That’s a perfect gift.” [makes bomb sound]
AJ: “You have funny mannerisms. I like them.”

[Riding in the car]
AJ: “Plug in my phone.”
Me: “We already listened to all your musics.”