revisited Finsterau

    I got back from a week in Finsterau Germany for a World Cup, last Wednesday. I flew Delta..well, Horizon to Portland, Delta to Amsterdam, and KLM to Munich. I met the rest in Munich. I had to meander (with assistance thankfully) to Terminal 2 from 1, and wait an hour. -Room for growth there- How does one kill one hour, whilst not leaving four bags unattended? I sat there. I did roll with my teetering cart to the restroom. I also chatted with Klebl as they were organizing to go to their hotel way-point. When the rest of the US arrived,(Andy,Oksana, Joy, Mia ,Farra, D$, Eileen, & BA) we had a meal in the airport, then loaded a small bus for the 2hr jaunt to Hohenauer.  We stayed in the Hohenauer Hof, along with Canada, VI Russians, France, & Germany. Andy and I roomed together. Breakfast was delicious, dinners were great, lunch was at the venue in a "beer tent". Hohenau was about 20 min from the venue in Finsterau. The commute was mostly pleasant as we toured the German countryside near the Czech border. The beer tent was also an athlete lounge, as well as where all the fans ate and mingled. It got crowded once or twice, but mostly worked out well. Two bathrooms, accessible, for everyone. There were lines occasionally. Not ideal, but again worked for the most part. We had a nice dump of snow the night of opening ceremonies, then three days of rain, and rain like weather before we got back to some regular winter weather. On one off day, we took a ski tour, to the Czech border, where there was a memorial to the iron curtain. The trip home started with everyone in a van. The US guys were dropped at the airport, and I was taken to a hotel nearby to wait for my flight the following day. -another area of growth, as i sat in the room and rested all day- I flew KLM out of Munich, supposed to be 7am . It snowed 1cm, so Munich had to clear runways and such, which delayed me an hour, changing the schedule for the day. I was supposed to fly to Seattle then Spokane. Instead, in Amsterdam, I was rerouted to Minneapolis, then Spokane. Instead of a 4pm arrival in Spokane, it was midnight.
      I had a good time. I miss the fun. I do not miss the stress I feel before and during travel. Im not a very good traveler. And I dont do well with unknowns. And as I stated, when given an open schedule, I choose to do nothing, squandering opportunities. I felt I did not have the ability to use my time in a different way due to Low funds, and inability to budget time left me to inactivity. Still, to hang with the youngins, and to be in the environment of people pushing their limits was invigorating. At times it depresses me, as I am shown how little I do. But in all, it is a bit of an escape from the real world, into a world that is a bit more hopeful. Next for me, is a trip scheduled to Mammoth CA to help coach some new participants to adaptive Nordic.

     Still trudging along. It is pretty silly that he passage of time "bothers" me. Its not like I am new to this life thing. It is not as though this progression has changed, nor that I can do anything to changfe it. Still, maybe it is because all these life events are staking up, I am more aware of what the passage of time means. For example, I was cleaning up a dusty pile of Christmas Cards, to discover that were from 2002. I realized that was 14 years ago. 2002 is not supposed to be that long ago. Piled on top of that, I had to explain what an 8 track tape was to someone i interact with, only to realize that we are in the age now beyond CD. in other words, we are well removed from 8 track. All these incidents seem to pile up, to stack on top of each other. It creates a kind of log jam. i think having kids simply adds insult to injury.  One more log, showing you how much has changed, to throw into the jam.
     I don't agree that time flies. I think it is simply that because there are so many memories and experiences, it feels like all those events happened at once, or in close order. And then time never goes back, so you cant slow down, or revisit. All this is as it has always been, and yet it seems I am new to this game.
    I go to Germany on Wednesday, back to Finsterau, near the Czech border. We were there in '09, i think. I bought my own ticket, much like in '05 when I paid my way to Lillehamer. it is rather strange to be full circle so to speak. And it is another log that expresses the passage of time.
     The twins are halfway through 6th grade, Keelie 1st. amazing to think how far they are along. Daunting to realize that jr high is next year, and high school looms. This opens all new areas of growth in me. I have not been a very good parent,and it becomes more clear the older they get. Today, it has been up to me tio figure something to do besides screens, and I have not. potential has been lost.
     We had a good snow over Christmas. Since then, it has oscillated around snowing and rain. We have spotty coverage here at the house. The trails on Mt Spokane are still good, though in springlike condition. There are thin spots, still you can ski without running on dirt. I also have done some more interacting with the local ski community. i Hope to build more on that maybe leveraging my Paralympic experience. We have also explored Schweitzer a little. The kids have utilized cheap tickets, off hour skiing, and some lessons. I skied with them once in my alpine, and once they skied alpine and I skied nordic. It has been fun, and shows potential which need some tweaking. The snow could have been better. But hopefully we are starting a habit.