Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Life is calling ~ Pick up and say Hello!


This past Sunday my friend Bonnie and I did just that. And we are so glad we made that one second decision to say yes ~ hello opportunity.

Have you ever done something and after the fact you can hardly believe you did it? We did just that.

A few times each winter a big group of us do a cross-county ski weekend at our friend Carrie's cabin in Two Harbors, Mn,  which is connected to my hubby's parents property giving us hundreds and hundreds of acres of private groomed trails (many thanks to my father-in-law), to enjoy.

Their "neighbors", Ward and Colleen, who live about 3 miles away, have sled-dogs and they both have raced for several years now, stopped by Saturday eve and invited just a couple of us to come with them on Sunday morning to ride along with them. Cool! Bonnie and I said Yes!

We arrived thinking "this will be really fun to do a ride-along"... and we were excited. We greeted many of the very excited dogs and chatted with our friends while they were preparing two sleds and lining up the appropriate dogs for each. Then Ward called us over to a sled he was getting ready and said to us " Here is what you are going to do" and proceeded to instruct us on driving the team. Bonnie and I looked at each other in wide-eyed surprise. What did he just say? We are going to drive??? No he did not ask, he told us and we listened. (He really enjoyed springing that on us). Ward would be in the lead sled with one of us in the sled and the other would follow leading their own team... alone!!!  We would be doing an 8 mile loop and at the half way point we would switch places so that we would each have the opportunity to drive a team!

Our trail went through the woods uphill and down and it was lovely. Ward had instructed us on what to do if we lost control and/or fell off.... "Get back up to the team as soon as you can". Both Bonnie and I had to follow those wise words.  I won't say I didn't scream "Oh sh*******t" as I lost control around a sharp corner in deep snow. I thought I could perhaps hold on..., yeah right. As I was flying through the air I saw the sled tip over. I got up as fast as my surprised mind and body could take me, ran up to it, set it upright, breathlessly yelled yes to Ward who was up ahead asking if I was ok, and thanked my team for stopping! It was completely exhilarating and exciting!  It was the experience of a lifetime to be sure.

Afterwards as we climbed into her Suburban in disbelief with giant smiles on our faces, I said, "This was not on my Bucket list but now I am going to put it on there and check it off because this was a bucket list experience that I didn't even know I wanted."  Bonnie laughed and said she was just thinking the exact same thing! We went back to the cabin and shared our experience to the group all of whom wished they had said yes. Boy are we glad we did!

Seriously...Life IS FUN!!!