I'm back!!!!!!!!!!!! And there is no better way to turn 35 than doing something you LOVE and where you grew up doing it, and if you're me, that's skiing in mormon country. And nothing would have made me feel younger than hanging out with my dad and aunt without my kids. I was twelve again.

Odd thing? suddenly doing dishes and helping homework and commuting to 8:30-5pm and eating out 3-4 times a week and dirty diapers and pairing clean white socks for three sizes of Male of the species, while trying desperately to find time to stay Woman, doesn't seem half as impossible as it did last Wednesday.

i want to review a bunch of stuff when i have time, like the mountain, the new booming digi ski-photo business, new (to me) ski technology, my discount shmealy deal at the Berkeley Northface outlet parka (love it!) and the Shallow Shaft restaurant at Alta in Little Cottonwood Canyon (blows away much fine San Fran dining) .

Alas, paradise has its pimples and conversations were at a standstill due to Dad's blue mood re: pending divorce with Mom. It breaks my heart to see his so broken and I'm mad at him for taking so much for granted. We all did.

So I mostly blew off those conversations, stuck to the higher ground, keeping things positive for all of our sakes, and skiied my little heart out. I went to bed too sore to roll over, waking up at 2AM to gaze out at the cresecent moon over an electrified snow-covered mountain top. nice night light.

As a kid I used to love watching the snow-cats and their headlights as they groomed the slopes for the next day's skiing. So we kept the curtains open, but mostly so there was light enough that we wouldn't trip over every aunt, uncle or cousin on my father's side of the family on our way to the potty in the wee hours of the morning as we packed the two-room condo every two weeks in March.

the last few days were full of fond memories colored painful by current family events. but it was very fun.