KATIE GOES SKIING by Katie Laborde

Katie Laborde (center) with mom Heather and sister Emily.

My first time skiing was a true experience for me. I was 12 years old and was in North Shore, Tahoe, near Christmas time. We spent this time with my cousins, uncle and aunt, and some friends of theirs. With them, we went sledding outside on a nearby hill, made snow angels or snowmen, and even had the occasional snowball fight.

Even though it takes so long to get there (especially in the snowy weather) I was most excited this time, because we were going to stay in a cabin that I had never been to before. When we got there, it was beautiful! Not just the cabin, but everything around us. All I wanted to do was run inside and sit by a warm fire and drink hot chocolate. For a while, I just wanted to see it all from the comfort of this cozy cabin, but I knew that wouldn't work unless there were windows situated around the whole cabin.

If I decided that I wanted to go inside, all of my clothing would be wet. If I wanted to go outside, I would have to cover myself in anything or everything I had. Knowing my cousins, they hadn't come all that way just to relax. Their days were planned snowboarding at some resort nearby. Unlike me, they always had the right equipment and were able to snowboard very well. Of course, all I had for such a sport were nylon pants, a sweatshirt and jacket, and a pair of cotton gloves. Not to mention, a DTBF tee shirt! I had to borrow almost all of my equipment from my cousins, as a result.

I would have to say that that day was probably the worst day to learn to ski. All we had to do was step outside the car at the ski resort and the wind almost blew you over. With skis on it wasn't any better. My sister and I had planned on taking lessons, but the next session wasn't until a few hours later. We decided to take the first steps ourselves. We started by simply stepping onto a long strip of sliding metal with our skis. Because of the wind, that was even difficult. Not to mention our clothing, which we could barely move in, and the blinding snow. We had to stop once we were told that the moving lift was only to be used for private lessons. Now the only thing to do was to be pulled up a much larger left and go down ourselves.

I was terrified to go down, but my cousins went along with me so I wouldn't be afraid. Once my uncle realized I was doing it completely wrong, he climbed up the icy hill to show me how to do it correctly. I had thought that you go straight and hope that you just stop at sometime. Ha. I learned that that was far from the case. Slowly, yet gradually, I made way, left to right, until I got to the bottom. Once I mastered that, it was a snap. It was time for me to face my fears and take the ski lift to the top of the hill.

I went up the lift with my cousin, Blake, and my other cousin, Zach, following behind us. It was no way near as hard as I thought it would be. I learned that my problem before was being too caught up in making sure that I didn't hurt myself and making sure I didn't let myself down. I had to just go for it. As a result of trying not to let myself down, I worked harder towards my goal. I ended up being at the level of my "professional" cousins and it was all because I knew their "secret."

There were jumps that I eventually landed and races that I eventually won. It turned out to be absolutely fabulous!!

Hey! My name is Katie Laborde and I now attend Vintage High school as a freshman. I wrote this story when I was about 12 and it is a true story. I love to play tennis, run and I enjoy art and literature. By writing, I find out more about myself. It’s a way of me keeping up with, well … me. In this story I simply dared to be fearless! I have become less fearful when faced with difficult challenges and I have had less fear to simply face them. I didn't particularly stand out from everyone else around me; I just stood out in myself … if that’s even possible. I dared myself to do what I thought was impossible. Fear can come to be courage and bravery can become confidence. So I dare you to crawl out of the darkness and walk into the radiant glow of fabulosity that you've always dreamed of! And I dare YOU to be fabulous!