Kids That Ski Race

I take Giovanni down to the bus at 1:30.  The other kids arrive driven there by grandparents or parents on their lunch break.  They arrive with skis way taller than they are some are wearing ski pants that seem more like tights and some have a kind of pair of shorts over them.  They have their helmets and goggles, tall stiff boots, and ski poles that have a curve in them and snaps that connect them to their gloves.  Giovanni is already on the bus as I put his skis in the luggage compartment and when I give him a last look and attempt to say goodbye he's already gone into his world leaving mine behind. They go off and the parents go home or back to work.  A few hours later they are back with bright red cheeks from the cold and wind and happy tired faces.  But if we parents ask them questions about what they did or how it was the answers must be dragged out of them for it was their world they were in not ours.

On weekends they arrive at 7:30 am for the bus ride to lessons or races.  On race days they may ride in the bus sometimes for hours, then spend a little time warming up.  When the races begin they wait in freezing cold temperatures at the top of the run until their moment, which is 40 some seconds or so speeding down a run in a way that would frighten the pants off of most adults.