How My Daughters View the World

It's still winter in Utah and this past week has shown why. Snow has finally fallen and now it looks like winter. With new snow on the ground, I was excited to hear that both Cass and Lily wanted to enjoy a "powder day". So, being the father who is really enjoying this ski season - albeit not so much for the snow but rather for the hours I have had to spend some good quality time with my two oldest daughters - I decided to take them on a powder day. In my mind, I thought what better place to go than where I have enjoyed my best powder days: Snowbird. As it worked out, I was able to get a discount pass for both me and Cass and Lily could ski for free so it looked like my decision was good.

We set out early in the morning so that we could get a good parking spot up at the 'Bird where we wouldn't have to walk very far to the lifts. At least, that was my goal because carrying 3 pairs of skis is not only heavy, but awkward and the girls were going to be encumbered too since they wanted to try skiing with poles this time. We headed up towards the canyon and got stuck in a long line of cars as everyone else in the western US decided that Little Cottonwood Canyon was the place to go as well. After 15 minutes of not moving, Cass said, "Dad, let's just turn around and go home. There is too much traffic.". While that was true, I didn't want them to learn that it is ok to give up so easily AND I had already dumped money into this day so we were going! To pass the time, I told them stories about when I was a teenager going up to Snowbird with my ski buddies and getting stuck in the same long line of cars. They listened politely and then said, "You should have brought us card games to play or our iTouches." To them, I wasn't prepared for this, but traffic finally moved and we made it up after only an hour of waiting.

The ski day went pretty well and yes, we did ski in some powder. The girls liked it, but we did a lot of hiking in it to find lost skis and mostly to get to the groomed runs since they didn't want to ski fast through it and it ended up stopping all momentum. After one of our hikes (I only say our because they were there too - as to pulled them up a hill while they hung onto the ends of my poles like they were a tow rope), I told the kids to look at the valley below while I caught my breath. When I looked up, Cass was crying. I asked what was wrong and she told me that seeing the valley made her miss Mom and Maggie and so she wanted to go home. It was then that I realized that I didn't view a powder day the same way my kids do. At least not right now and their views WILL conform to mine. But, being the dad that I am, we started skiing down to the car so we could go home. Leaving early didn't seem like such a big deal any more. Besides, who wouldn't miss Nina or Maggie after being away from them for a couple of hours?

Her comment, however, got me thinking and here are a couple more sayings from my girls that have caught me off guard lately and opened my eyes to how they see the world.

Maggie (upon seeing me dressed early in the morning): "Dad, are you going to work or to church?" - Apparently I'm never around and those are the places I go.

Lily (upon getting a hamburger at 5 Guys Burgers and Fries): "Dad, I didn't want meat on it!" - luckily this was before the Pugh vegan movement and so I can chalk it up to her just being unhappy that it wasn't from McDonalds and not that she was being converted to alternative eating habits.

There are many more cute and funny yet profound things my kids say that make me stop and think about how they view the world. I'm very lucky to have them and it can be very humbling and amusing to hear what they have to say.