Right now: Spring skiing and love

She pulled out her traveling machine plan at breakfast and said: “Where would you want to go this morning, mama? Utah, Costa Rica or Italy?” “Costa Rica, for sure!” I answered without hesitation, watching outside the window as more snow fell from the sky. 

But we grabbed our skis and went outside. 

After a mere kilometer, we both fell in the heavy sticky snow that made backcountry skiing so hard for her and laughed our hearts out. Then, she asked about life on other planets and oxygen and why our heart beats faster when we exercise. In the same breath, she said: “It might look like winter, but it smells like spring in the forest, mama.” 

I turned towards her and said: “You know, there is nowhere I’d rather be but here with you, sweetheart.” And we both smiled in the wet embrace of Mother Earth. Fully present. Fully alive.