“Create a personal dialogue with your environment. Talk to it.”

This quote is so important to me…look up, read it. Learn & understand it. As I think back to my trip to Colorado last week, there’s so many conversations I had with my environment – from trusting my gut and body to react to gliding down the side of a mountain and listening to the reactions my body had in hot springs, there really was so much to learn from the dialogue that I was having, even if it was unbeknownst to me at the time.

But let’s start this recap & let’s recount the week in the most optimistic manner that I can.

By now, everyone who talks to me knows that I missed my connecting flight and that my luggage never made it to me…that’s right, a week in freezing temperatures without even a thong. Thank God for Walmart (I never thought I would say that).

But, once the trip was rolling, suddenly the problems were replaced with something more beautiful – explorations, re-familiarization & of course, family time.

A lot of our time in Colorado was identical to the day before. Waking up early, hitting the slopes & then doing it again the next day. However, day one differed significantly from our last day.

Day One: disastrous & chaotic; it was a moment of releasing control from hours of delayed flights and rebookings to tears with missing luggage. Relinquishing the control that I have to have over everything in my life and knowing that now I have to make the decision to roll with it or make everyone as miserable as I am. The word of this day was monachopsis – the subtle but persistent feeling of being out of place.

Day Two: beautiful, sunny & warm; it was a picturesque day where hundreds of tourists were anxiously waiting to get on the lift and have their own mini-Olympics. After hours of allowing my body to sync with the skis once more, we headed out, exhausted by the cardio, and went home to a dinner of tamales & What Do You Meme. We laughed & caught up on lost time. The word for this day was lagom – a Swedish word for not too little & not too much, but just right. Also, that word just sounds wholesome & I love it.

Day Three: I woke up wishing the alarm hadn’t been set but as soon as I was atop the mountains with my French braids, I knew it was well worth it. Finally, I was back in my groove and having fun with it. I felt my confidence return and the worrisome feeling that had been lingering, disappear. Following a long day of swooshing in the snow, we relaxed in the hot springs where (and I’m not being dramatic) I felt all of my tension and worries leave my body – from relationships and stress to physicalities, I felt renewed. I was able to become free & break loose or alpas.

Day Four: Our last full day of vacation and what an experience it was. We were quite literally in a winter wonderland. Is that right? No, it was more of a GoT battle between us and the other side of the Wall. But so worth it. The slopes were almost completely vacated & the weather was certainly frightful but as I started the trip observing the view, on the last day I truly listened to what the mountains were communicating. Call me crazy, but they were watching out for me as the ice plastered my face, and I was listening to them to make the best judgment of where to go & what to do. This was a day of pure ramé – beautifully chaotic and overwhelmingly joyful at the same time.

Day Five: Up bright & early to head home, luggage recovered and in tow. As I lounged in my seat & turned up my travel playlist…the word I would use to conclude this trip is ephemeral, lasting for a very short time.