Jen puts Oscar on the bus. Chris brings Milo with him to our place in the morning. I eat and pack and load our gear in the car. Chris and Jen lead their first dogsled trip over our bridge. Milo and I head to Blackjack. On the way we talk, about what we are reading among other things, then put on a podcast that beautifully overlaps with our conversation. (It was one of the best This American Life episodes I've listened to in a long time--tears streaming down my cheeks by the end of it for my deep deep love for libraries and welcoming librarians.) At Blackjack the lifts are running, but the chalet and mountain is quiet. Just how I like it. Up and down together, chatting and not. Lunch in the bar, my pickiest-eater-ever nephew, commenting on the perfect breading of the chicken tenders and flavor of the bbq sauce. More mountain. A break to jump on the bungee jump trampoline. We are ready to head back out, when we notice they are shutting down the lifts. They have moved night-skiing to Indianhead we are informed, so we head there. A few runs. My thoughts on the lift have turned to my TAP kids and if there is a way I can get them on snowboards this winter. A warm-up break with pretzel bites, live music, and fun people watching. Milo chooses to slow his pace for our last two trips down the mountain, weaving in out and out of each others tracks. Two winters ago, we came here for the first time. Riding the lift that day, bubbly eight-year-old Milo exclaimed, "this is the best day of my life!" Now ten, his reactions are much more subdued, but there is no doubt it has been a great day together. We drive to the Black River Lodge, where I have a two-bedroom room booked for the next two nights. We check in to our room and head down to the pool and hot tub. Before long we are joined by Chris and Silas, then Dustin, Wylder, and Olin, who all drove over after work and school. The boys swim. Chris and Dustin pull chairs up to the hot tub to chat (they both forgot to pack swimsuits). While the three of us have shared space at parties, it has never been just us three. In a bigger group, I drift to my mom or girlfriends, Chris to the grill, Dustin to playing with the kids. But the conversation now is so fun and easy, that I know there will be more. The conversation turns to the engineering of fish tank sealants and I head up to the room to shower. A little later, I hear them all come in to the room, the dads directing the boys into pajamas, and I condition my hair and relish this evening of family without parenting responsibility. Dana drives up from a Wisconsin Midwives meeting in Madison and joins Chris, Dustin, and I gabbing on the king-bed like kids at a slumber-party. Her arrival is the last bit of the evening that we have all looked forward to when she sent the text this afternoon that she was on her way. It's just a few miles to get from the lodge to Powderhorn the next morning. We eat breakfast there, pull gear from the car, get lift tickets (one free with each Ashwabay season pass), and say goodbye to Chris and Silas, who are on a mission to bring a bag of platy babies to the fish store and scope out xc-ski trails. Milo and I get in a couple runs, come back to help the Churness-Moriarty family finish getting their gear on, then the six of us explore the mountain together, mixing and matching on the chairlift, and fanning out down the hill. Liam and Theresa join us and we are a party of eight, bringing back memories of joining them on their spring break trip to visit Kate in Colorado, watching our different personalities influence the way we each make our way down the hill. By the time we getting in our last runs, Jen and Oscar have arrived, bringing their energy to the party. We drink a beer in the chalet and negotiate take-out options while the kids motivate us to get them to the pool. Tonight I get to share the hot tub with Jen and Dana and Theresa. I always look forward to hang-out time any of these women, so to be with all three at once is a special treat. Showered and dressed, we move to a couch in the lounge near a pool table the four older boys have taken over. Dana gets called to a birth, Theresa and Jen go downstairs to the bar for a scotch, and I sit quietly watching the game. Tired and content. The next morning, Oscar is the first in our room to wake. He won't be coaxed back to sleep, so we go to the lobby to make hot tea and then up to the board game area outside of Theresa and Liam's room. Of course they are awake too and it feels good to share this quiet morning time with them. They decide to spend the day at Indianhead and head out. The rest of us will be undecided until we can eat a good breakfast. We try out Mike's in Ironwood and are not disappointed. (I'm eating my leftover breakfast wrap and hashbrowns as I type this.) Re-fueled, but still not especially ambitious, we decide to check-out Mt. Zion. It's perfect. Quiet and chill. Only one chair-lift, but lots to choose from with a tubing hill, beginner area, terrain park, and fun glade options off of the main trails. Dustin offers to hang with Oscar for a bit so Jen and I can ride the lift together. We pack a beer and beef sticks and sit together at the top of the mountain. There were a couple years before Oscar when I was learning to snowboard and Jen was learning to telemark, where we took little mini-vacations (usually day-trips) to check out the ski resorts in the area. Those were some of my favorite days together. They don't fit in to our life now like they did then, but I am grateful for this moment. A little bit of time for just us, in the midst of this busy beautiful sometimes-chaotic life we are living. Jen takes Oscar home and gets a chicken carcass simmering for soup. Dustin and I close down the lift with the boys. On the last run, they go ahead and we can't keep up as we wipe-out on little jumps and tree runs, laughing all the way. Big hugs as we say goodbye. Later he texts, "Thank you for being that friend who makes fun happen. It is good for all of us!" Milo and I pull in to Stoffel's Country Store to check out their fish and pick up eggs. Silas's platy babies have settled in nicely. I decide to get his panda cory's siblings and a swordtail for Oscar's tank. The sun has set and the horizon is purple as we drive west. We listen to another moving podcast on the way. I am so grateful for this time and also ready to be home. To get back to work.
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AuthorsMagdalen Dale and Kaite Sweval grew up a layer apart, overlapping and paralleling. Belonging to the shores of Lake Superior and yet not quite belonging. Laughing and dreaming on the bench outside the ferry booth as Mag passed the time and Kaite chose her time. Left to explore as soon as they could. And then as adults returned home, perhaps to their surprise. But glad to have each other... ‘cause we know there is strength in the differences between us and comfort where we overlap. Archives
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