Changing of the Season

My boy is already amped that Winter is here.  We don't get to ski much around here and it's not great skiing, but he loves it.  Starting in January, we'll go skiing every other weekend up to Mt. Holly.  Brighton is only an hour away, but it's crowded and small with a lot of tow ropes.  Mt. Holly is another hour, but it's worth it for the less crowded slopes and slightly better runs.

Someday, I'll take him out west, or at the least, up to upstate New York, so he can ski on bigger runs in a bigger place.  This year, I'll keep getting him private ski lessons every time we go.  Started that later than I should have last year.  Basically, hire a ski instructor for his first hour on the slopes, then let him do whatever the rest of the day.

Me?  I'm a terrible skiier, and once I get tired, I start falling down.  Combined with law school studying, I think I'm going to spend a lot of time in the lodge.  I'll ski a bit, but it's really nice to turn Logan over to that instructor for an hour.  The kid loves skiing so much, we close the place down every time we go up there. 

I wish there were another Sylvania kid who loved to ski.  It'd be nice if Logan had a buddy to chase around the slopes.  It would also relieve Dad of some of that obligation.

2011 is almost in the can.  From the beginning, it looked like a year to be endured, not particularly enjoyed.  A lot of good things happened.  Logan had a phenomenal season in football.  He made the Jr. Cats travel basketball team.  I got a scholarship to Law School and am wrapping up my first season.

Finances continue to be challenging and will be for the next 2 or 3 years.  The business is still struggling under the mountain of debt we took in back when we were growing at 40% per year before the downturn.  We won't be finishing off any of it in 2012.  However, if I can survive the next 12 months, that'll set us up for wiping it out in 2013 and 2014.  What a difference that'll make in life.  $4,000 a month in debt payments isn't that big a deal when you're talking about a business that's grossing just shy of a million a year.  But when sales plummet by more than half, it gets to be a burden.

Life will be so much better, later.  It's not too bad now.  I try to remind myself that life was never meant to be easy.  It always involved its challenges.  People have to go through their own little trials and tribulations.  It's our nature.  However, as long as the debt collectors aren't bothering me, I can raise my boy and I have the prospect of brighter days ahead, that's really what its all about.