Snowboarder Guy

Snowboarder Guy

We spent last week at Mammoth Mountain. I skied for the first time in over 20 years and he snowboarded for the first time ever. He really wanted to try snowboarding, but after being told by all sources that it's easier for kids to start on skis, my wife and I weren't sure who to listen to. Ultimately we left the decision up to him and his passion was clearly with snowboarding. He was a natural, picked it up right away, and was snowboarding down the mountain on his second day of lessons. We had a really great week in the snow.

The only downside is that I caught a cold and was feeling pretty sick today. I let him know that as I suggested, "How about something with the snowy mountains? I'm not feeling well, so how about something easy?"

"A hotel!" he exclaimed.

"Uh, that doesn't have anything to do with the snowy mountains. A hotel can be anywhere."

"Oh. Right," he said as he considered several options out loud. "A mountain is too easy. A gondola is medium.  A snowboarder guy is too easy. A hotel can be anywhere." He paused before settling on an idea he felt worthy for today, "How about a village?"

After hearing him brush aside options he felt were too easy, then settling on something complex, I reminded him with some anguish in my voice, "I don't want hard. I'm not feeling well."

"Sometimes people are tricking when they say they're not feeling well," he responded blankly.

His lack of sympathy and the insinuation that I was faking it got me very mad. I left the kitchen and went upstairs to change. On my way up I said, "I'm not going to do a snack sack today. You're just being mean."

He came upstairs and apologized while I was getting ready. He gave me a hug and conceded, "Okay, you can do a snowboarder guy."

After the bumpy start, I decided not to get his input on which drawing to choose. I picked this one out and to keep it simple, I blacked out the snowboarder instead of drawing the details. He came to my side of the kitchen table when he was finished with breakfast and took a look. He told me, "It would be more awesomer if you didn't do it all black."

I was amazed that he noticed and had to agree with him. I just didn't have the energy today. I still like it though, as did he.