An Ideal Girlfriend

It seems, that one of the top things on a single man’s wish list is a woman who enjoys the same activities as he.

Here in Denver, that puts mountain biking and skiing at the top of the list. They want a woman who can at least keep up with them – and in this very active, outdoor oriented state (Colorado, I mean – not a mental state) there are many women who fit the requirement. Lucky guys.

In my relationship, Mr. Burns is thankful that I enjoy hiking and rollerblading and biking, even if I can’t exactly keep up. Mr. Burns is good at almost every sport. Last summer he spent a lot of time trying to teach me tennis. This was both fun and frustrating.

Each time I let a ball go by just because I didn’t want to run to meet it, added to his frustration. But in my defense, I was suffering from hip pain which was more debilitating than I realized. The pain made it very hard to run, and took twice as much energy as it should just to trot after the stray balls.

So when I told Mr. Burns that I was a decent skier, it is fair that he had some doubts. I haven’t even been skiing in three years. Two years ago I went up to Breckenridge with an out-of-town friend and we took snow board lessons together. That was my last time on the mountain.

Now, Mr. Burns has been skiing quite a bit this winter while I was working weekends. This past weekend was our only chance to go up together. My brother and his family were out to visit and take their kids skiing for the first time. The fam stayed at my cousin’s condo, and Mr. Burns and I joined them on Friday night.

I had to go rent skis and equipment and Mr. Burns overheard the conversation as the sales guy was trying to determine my skill level. I told him that I was pretty good on blues and trying to conquer blue/blacks. I’m sure Mr. Burns had his doubts.

On Saturday, the two of us took my oldest niece down some runs and taught her how to advance beyond the ‘snow plow’ philosophy that the instructors drilled into her the day before. It was an opportunity for me to warm up a bit, since it had been so long since I strapped boards to my feet. Thankfully it all came back to me.

After two runs with the kiddo, Mr. Burns asked if I was up for a blue/black and off we went. The steepest section was a little tricky but I gave it my all – at one point about 20 yards from catching up to Mr. Burns I was chanting, “Kinda scary, kinda scary, kinda scary.” He heard me and had a good chuckle over it.

Once past that challenge I felt pretty exhilarated for the rest of the black run. Mr. Burns was beaming as he announced that I was pretty fast. He was impressed! How thrilled he was that I was a better skier than most of his friends’ wives. Whoo hoo!

Later, I told him that I’ve only been skiing 10-12 days out of my entire life. Well, now he was more than excited. If I could actually get on a mountain I’d be a great skier! The only thing holding me back is cash flow!

Yeah… you definitely have a future together when you talk about getting buddy passes next year.