All coming together

For the past week or so I've had the cough/cold from hell; I've been very worried that it was going to develop into bronchitis like in Banff but I think - hope? - that today I'm over the worst. However, I did have today off work due to 3 nights in a row with hardly any sleep due to constant hacking. I did actually get up this morning and put my uniform on, but when Isaac came into the bedroom to find me sat on the bed crying due to sheer exhaustion, he wisely advised me that I probably wasn't going to be much use at work. I called in sick, which I hate doing because I'm always paranoid that they'll think I'm lying, and then tried to go back to sleep for a bit, which I managed to do, albeit on and off, till nearly 1pm. A day sat on the sofa watching Amelie and playing on the internet ensued and I definitely noticed that my cough has decreased in its ferocity a little, so I'm hoping tonight won't be so bad.

Tuesday and Wednesday are our days off, and this Tuesday, as I was feeling very rough, we spent the day at home doing much needed things like washing and cleaning. Whoop de doo. Come Wednesday, one more sleepless night down, I really wanted to just take it easy again but it was a bluebird day, I hadn't been on my board for 2 weeks, the NZ Freeski competition was on at Cardrona AND I didn't want to cheat Isaac out of a day on the snow, so come late morning I dosed myself up, and sucked it up Buttercup.

I had been flicking through a book a couple of days before in the bookshop called "Great Outdoor Adventures: An Extreme Guide to the Best Outdoor Pursuits" by the fabulous Bear Grylls. In it, whilst talking about skiing, he advises against being over-cautious, since this tends to over-ride the natural instincts and abilities that confidence affords you. Certainly in both skiing and snowboarding I've found that whenever I think 'Uh-oh, I don't think I'm going to make this!', invariably I don't. So with this in mind, and boyed by a dream I'd had the night before in which I was a really good snowboarder, I decided that today, I could do this. Sure enough, I found myself following Isaac onto terrain that previously I'd have avoided - too steep, too bumpy - and killing it. I threw yet more caution to the wind and upped my speed and realised it had all clicked! In sheer joy I followed Isaac off a small jump and landed it!* By the end of the day I found myself on our mini-bordercross course** riding the rollers and banked corners with ease. Hurray! Now I can't wait to get on my board again. My pesky coffee hand still waves around like crazy without my knowledge or permission, but at least I feel like I can now get to work on such small things. I may only have achieved mediocrity, but I embrace it like an old friend.

*it was a very small jump. And I got a very small amount of air. But still.
**okay okay it's called the Family Fun Park or something and I know 10 year olds are probably therefore supposed to be able to do it but I would still have avoided it on a board in the past...