I’ve seen a few flakes in the past week, but today was the first full-blown, accumulating, stick-to-stuff snowfall of the season. And I am not happy about it. I’ve never been a fan of cold, wintry weather. Yes, I grew up in New England. No, I never learned to like snow.

As an able-bodied kid, I enjoyed sledding (one of the town’s popular sledding hills was at a golf course near my house), though I hated the inevitable climb back up the hill. I liked playing outside on snow days, though I got nearly as much enjoyment out of the hot chocolate and toast my mom would serve when I came back inside. As I got older and more “clumsy”, ice and snow became treacherous for me to walk on, and my childhood tolerance for snow disappeared.

Winter brings one single thing I am excited about: adaptive skiing. I’ve never done it before, and it may very well suck, but this year I am going to try it and I can’t wait. I skied one time growing up. It was a disaster. Everyone always had lift tickets on the zipper tabs of their winter coats, and these would accumulate as winter wore on. The one time I skied, I was so excited to have one of my own to show off. I don’t think I told anyone I hated it.

This will be my first winter wheeling around, and I am interested to see how my chair handles in ice and snow; my guess is, not very well. Hopefully, skidding around on wheels will be better than falling on my ass.