December 99 December 98 December 97 _________________ Tuesday 21 December 99 Winter Solstice 11 21 pm mst   [ skiing day 3 ] My body detests skiing.   It finds the equipment to be uncomfortable and unmanageable.   I am always the wrong temperature.   One of my feet is always unhappy.   My heart wonders why it must be used heavily in short few-minute bursts and then left underused for long stretches as I ride back up the mountain.   Only my thighs champion the workout. My mind delights in skiing.   I am enough of a beginner that it still requires my full concentration.   Myriad snowflakes pelt me in their infinite perfection as I ride up the ski lift.   They tell me to stay, settle, let my heart slow.   I am to cool off and offer up my existence to the mountain.   But I declare my humanity; I must fight against the snow and gravity my whole way down.   Then I ask to do it again.