Borderland

My 14 year-old son and his sisters have been on skis since they were toddlers, but my son decided at an early age that he’d become a snowboarder. I was proud and a not a little awed to see him, at age 6, take off into the terrain garden at Alyeska on his $40 plastic K-Mart snowboard, bombing the hill straight for the biggest jump in the place. It was the first time he’d tried this, and he held nothing back. A small group of teenage boys sitting around the top of the hill noticed him, and one of them said, “Way to go, little man.” He nailed the jump.

I was so inspired I rented a board the next day. Not that I wanted to do jumps, I just wanted to see how hard or fun it would be to ride. I found out quickly, when I tried to get off the ski lift. After I crawled away on my hands and knees, dragging the board with one foot, I got the other foot strapped in and tried to stand up. The very next thing I learned about snowboarding was that standing up with both of your feet strapped to a single board, flat on the ground, is harder than it looks. I could not get up. Peter, age 6, observed, “Maybe you’re too fat, Dad.”

Sadly, I suspected he was right. I got around the standing-up problem by laying on my back, picking the board up off the ground with my feet, and rolling over to my stomach. No style points for that. No style points for getting down the hill that first time, either.

This past summer I decided it was time to get rid of all the useless weight I’ve been carrying around for the past 20 years, and as of today – 4 months exactly from when I started – I’ve lost a little over 50 pounds. People have asked me how I did it, guessing that I exercised it off. I say, yeah, I’ve been doing that, but I’m also eating less. A lot less. I kept a food journal and counted calories, eating less than 2000 a day.

I saw the doctor for my physical and told him what I was up to, about the journal and such. He said, “I tell everyone to do that. Can I give people your phone number?” I understand how he feels. Teachers hand out lots of advice that people never follow.

At some point during the summer, I announced that I’d be real happy this winter if I could learn the snowboarding “trick” of standing up with both my feet strapped to my board. The kids chuckled, and said that it wasn’t hard at all, even though it’s been impossible for me. Until now. Tonight I tried sitting on the floor with my feet flat on the floor in front of me. And without moving them, I can stand up!

It’s a good day.