Sledding

Call an ambulance! Somebody get that man to a hospital! He doesn’t look well.

Oh, kind reader, I’m only kidding. The image assaulting your corneas is that of a middle-aged man who has gone up and down a hill too many times to count. His body screams for a break, and yet his inner child demands one more turn.

Incidentally, I don’t really know what a cornea is, nor if it can be assaulted. Incidentally, authors don’t use the word “nor” anymore. What a loss to the English language. Neither this nor that. Nor the other thing. Nor is a funny word to look at if you use it a number of times in a row as I have just done.

But that’s neither here nor there.

***

“Can we go sledding?” my son Samson asked during dinner.

It hasn’t snowed much this winter in Iowa City. Still, we got a few inches over winter break. Samson wanted to make use of the snow.

My lazy body sighed lazily.

“Sure,” I told Samson. I usually tell my two children yes. For better or worse. Samson and Solomon bundled up. So did my wife Katie and I. We drove a few blocks to Longfellow Elementary school. There’s a nice sledding hill behind Longfellow. Nothing like the mountainous sledding hills in State College, Pennsylvania, but it would do.

We walked with our sleds behind the school to the hill. It was empty. I was surprised. I figured other kids would be trying to make use of the first real snow. Instead, it was just the four of us.

Somebody had left an orange plastic sled. I used that one. The boys went down on their sleds. Katie and I took turnings going with our children. With each other, too. The hill was slippery enough to get some speed. The air was cold enough to be cold, but not too cold to sled. I just used the word cold three times in one sentence. The stars spread out about us in a clear, winter sky.

We must have gone sledding for over an hour. I was exhausted when we were done. This was probably my favorite moment of winter break.

***

I’ve started playing in a pickup basketball game. It’s mostly an old man game. Faculty and staff. I’m still seeking my shot. Still trying to remember what to do and when to do it. It’s coming.

I woke up with an aching shoulder a few days ago. I tried to lift my arm above my head and pain shot through my soul. It was ugly.

“Do you think I’m dying?” I asked Katie. I always think I’m dying.

“No,” Katie told me. Katie never thinks I’m dying.

I took some Tylenol and the pain went away. I did the same thing after going sledding with my children.

My body is going through changes. Our bodies are always going through changes. But it still lets me play basketball. Still lets me go sledding. I like both of those things. I’m trying to give my inner child some more turns while I still can.

Now, enjoy some pictures of the boys on our sledding adventure: