I have a bump the size of half a golf ball on my left knee.

There’s no visible bruise but every time my knee hits something, I feel a strong push onto my flesh, similar to a bruise. I only got this bump a couple of days ago, and it’s the result of attempting something I know I cannot do.

I have been skiing since I was three years old. The burn of icy winds on my cheeks is a sensation that I am far from new to. Having two long planks strapped to my feet and thin cylindrical sticks in my hands is all too common. Skiing is as engraved in my memory as walking is for most people.

I have skied a few places in Michigan but my family tends to head out West over school breaks. Flying down the slopes of Breckenridge, Keystone, and Vail is an annual tradition. When my parents decided to trade warm winter breaks in Disney to below-freezing temperatures in Colorado, I knew I would never get away from skiing. 

Then, I discovered snowboarding. My dad was a firm believer that snowboarders are awful and all they do is sit in the middle of the hill. Nevertheless, he asked my cousin and her husband if they had an old snowboard I could use. We found a Dannon yogurt snowboard in the back of the storage room. At the time, the board was a little big for me but I was determined to make it work. 

That was three years ago.

Now my beautiful Dannon yogurt snowboard is too short and I just got a new board. My penguin snowboard and I decided to hit the hills. I convinced my friend to attempt snowboarding with me. Riding up the bunny hill at Cannonsburg proved to be boring, and a lot harder than getting on a ski lift.

We decided to go up the double. Getting on the chair went perfectly. That’s when it all went downhill. I fell getting off the lift then proceeded to fall ten times going down the hill. I had a total of three “scorpion” falls throughout the day. I fell to my face and my feet flew up near my head. Those falls didn’t hurt. It was the falls uphill to just my knees that killed me.

I have a bump on my knee.

I refuse to give up.

I attempted something I wasn’t good at. But in the wise words of a random guy that rode up the lift with my friend: pain is temporary.