Grommets and Grunions

I have been giving these mantras to emery since we could communicate verbally. before he was verbal we did sign language which is great in a crowded place across long distances. you avoid being 'that' parent. the mantras aren't ones that i made up, they are ones i learned along the way. words from good people, words that i liked and kept.

1) why do we do what we do? to have fun.
                a-because as soon as you get upset or angry you lose.
2) what does everything have? a learning curve.

3) have no shame in your game. know how to apologize.
                 a-own your mistakes because 'sorry' is too often misused and abused.

4) be kind dont be nice.

my sister recently took the photo that is on display. it got me to thinking about my own parent learning curve with skiing. sometimes as a parent i get excited to show emery what i liked as a kid. those things that i was excited to do. in hindsight i forget sometimes that i had to learn first, enjoy and learn to enjoy. in that memory gap i neglect emery's own learning curve. skiing being the example here. i started off cross country at an early age but didnt start downhill until i was 11. emery's age now. emery has 9 years of downhill skiing more than i do over the course of a lifetime. emery is also a better soccer player than i ever will be or was when i was 11. soccer is his gift, skiing is his accomplishment. its easy once you learn it but learning whatever it is that takes patience.

last week emery and i skied together for the first time this year. not only did he keep up he lead the way. seeing this picture got me excited to let this group of grommets and grunions have the mtn to themselves. maybe emery will live along the ski bum lifestyle in his early 20's like i did. maybe he wont. we'll just have to wait and see, but for right now i want to enjoy this point of independence. you are free to ski about the mtn.

breaking up and cooking

When emery gets older i want him to know two things: how to break up and how to cook.









at the moment emery is only 11. Right now we are doing cooking. Simple cooking because if he knows how to follow a recipe he will know how to shop for food; he will know how to feed himself. emery can also entertain guests if he wants, be able to work in food service, cook for that first date, have dining etiquette, be in the habit of eating at a table. etc etc etc