I was a horrible child. I can fully attest to my wickedness. My son is now making me pay. I was warned by my mother that I would have a child as naughty as I. She was so right. I was recently reminded of this on a ski trip to Ruidoso, New Mexico. My son skied over his classmates. Ahhh, the memories.

When I was 10 (1983-ish), my parents took my brother and me to Crans Montana in Switzerland to ski. It was magnificent! The snow was well over my head, there were thousands of huge pine trees and chalet looked like it had belonged to Hansel and Gretel. I couldn't wait to begin skiing. Bright and early the next morning we all headed out for ski lessons. My brother and I had been squabbling, so I had planned to push him down something into something if possible. My evil plans were diverted. He was placed in another ski class. (grrr...) I quickly found a suitable replacement. I have no idea why I decided on the red headed French boy in front of me. He skied slowly, he had red hair and I was naughty. I proceeded to lay my ski over the back of his. He popped right out of the skis! Excelsior!! I was reprimanded by the instructor. Time to plot. Later that day, the little boy refused to ski down a hill. I encouraged him with a small tap. (I was later informed that I shoved him...semantics I say...) I thought he skied superbly, until he ran into the tree at the bottom of the hill. I thought everyone knew how to snow plow. Sheesh. Meanwhile, my little (annoying) brother was learning to ski unhindered. Throughout the day, the red headed boy tried to exact some amount of revenge upon me. I was too clever for his antics. I thought him a mere amateur. I was an older sister after all. I had experience. Our final task for the day was to ski over, under, and around several obstacles on the slope. Piece of cake. Predictably, petit rouge monsieur was in front of me practically terrified to ski on. (I can't imagine why...) Just as I was about to offer my 'encouragement', off he went. Huzzah! The chase was on. I am not sure what I had planned for him. As we neared the end of the course, I had yet to catch up to my red headed target. I was ever so focused. Intent on skiing him into a snow drift. I failed to notice the other class entering the course on the right. My brother skied straight toward me, obviously he didn't know how to snow plow either, clipped the back of my skis and sent me off into the very snow drift I had picked out for my little friend. I was thwarted. By my seven year old brother. Woe is me!! As I crawled out of the drift, I spotted Mr. Red. Crying. Hunh? Me too. As I approached him, I realized that he was crying because he was laughing so hard. I stomped off in a huff.

2011. Skiing again. My brother and my kids on the mountain. My oldest son runs another kid into a tree. My brother runs over him with a snowboard. I laughed so hard I started crying. Coincidence?