Elena’s mother Rosa stepped out of the car holding a red sled. June looked at the sled, then at the itinerary on her phone. “Is that for the children?” Rosa said it was available to qualified applicants.
By the third climb, the children had stopped asking for help and started coaching the adults. June was convinced there was a fast side of the hill. Elena was convinced June would have a spreadsheet about it by dinner. Rosa, who had come to watch, was nowhere near the bench.
They had not traveled north to become better skiers. They had traveled north because the last three weekends had disappeared into errands. At the bottom of the hill, laughing too hard to stand up gracefully, Elena thought this was a much better use of a Saturday.
Later they chose a warm table at Beards Brewery in downtown Petoskey. Everybody ordered as if they had personally moved the hill. Rosa dealt the Winter Firsts cards for a euchre rematch, then asked what time they were going back tomorrow. Nobody mentioned the itinerary.
Illustrations are imaginative, not documentary portraits.
Meet the rest of winter’s people →