Ski lodge ambiance.
Ski lodges have such a distinct smell.
It's part locker room and part wool sweaters that have been stored in cedar closets. There's a hint of hockey-rink entryway to them, but with a splash of high school cafeteria thrown in.
Isobel and I had just made our way to a table by the windows. It was late afternoon and we'd grabbed a few snacks before settling in to wrap up some work after a morning spent snowboarding. We moved an assortment of hats, gloves, and goggles out of the way to make room for our laptops.
Taking a bite of chocolate chip cookie, I was reminded of my grandfather. On the coldest ski days when I was a kid, he and my cousins and I would race from the top of the mountain to the couch in front of the fire at Allyn's Lodge to warm up. We'd pile in through the door and our goggles would fog up immediately. Once we got our gear off, the race would continue to the lunch counter where we'd lunge for those huge, paper-plate-sized chocolate chip cookies in the plastic wrap.
Today with my feet popping and fizzing in their loosened boots like a freshly opened soda, I thought of all the ski lodges I've been in over the years. I thought of family ski weekends and teaching lessons after school; of studying for finals in college and of seasons spent working throughout the Rocky Mountain West. I got to officiate and celebrate my friends' wedding in a ski lodge. I've said goodbye to friends and mourned their passing in ski lodges. My mom and I have had some of our most memorable life-conversations in ski lodges, too.
Looking across the table, I saw Isobel perched behind her laptop and felt extremely grateful—for all the different chapters, I couldn't help but smile at a few familiar things. Like sharing a cookie by the windows. Or being gobbled up by cedar closet cafeteria smells.
Our Daily MAP Year Prompt
159/365
What's something you've preserved over the years, even though it's changed along the way?
If you know someone who'd appreciate this, pass it along. And if something stuck with you while reading, I'd love to know what it was.
onward.
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