Learning

So this weekend I got to take my daughter skiing.  It was wonderful.  She has only been up twice, but she has taken to the sport very quickly.  She was getting very confident so after conquering the bunny slope, and a run down midway, she decided she wanted to take the lift to the top of the mountain.  We went down the first run from the top and she was so proud of herself she of course wanted to go back up as soon as possible.  So we did just that.  On our second run from the top she started taking a little more risk.  She was making great turns and started picking up a little more speed.  She was doing extremely well when a couple of skiers got a little to close for comfort and she skied straight into the trees.  I skied up to where she had fallen thinking it would be like any other fall she had taken but this time she was panicked.  The powder was very deep.  I took my skis off to help her and when I took my first step I sunk and the snow came up to my waistline.  I pushed her back on to the run surprised at how calm we both remained under the circumstances and we proceeded to ski down the hill.  After she fell in the trees she continued to fall down several more times.  She was obviously frazzled and getting very frustrated.  At first, I gave her a pep talk after each fall with the attempt to pull her attitude around.  I could tell she was extremely annoyed with me.  So I decided instead of trying to make her feel a different emotion I would step out of the equation and let her feel frustrated.  I know if I fell on my butt several times and someone came up with a big smile on their face saying "its ok" when clearly in my world it wasn't; I would be a little perturbed as well.  She responded much better to me recognizing where she was at, instead of where I wanted her to be.  By not having to mask how she was truly feeling for my benefit she seemed to be able to work through her frustration much easier and actually started laughing at herself when she fell down.  Of all the beautiful moments that we shared that day, I think that was my favorite.  I know that sounds weird that I am celebrating the fact that my daughter was having such a hard time on the mountain, but I truly feel like I got a better understanding of my little girl.  And that I will cherish forever.