I put this out here because I couldn't find any pictures for Christmas 1984 or 1985.
I don't even remember Christmas 1984, except that I know we were in Colorado. We went to El Paso for Thanksgiving, and the following week my father died, and we went back down to El Paso. So, I don't remember Christmas. It must not have been very memorable!
However, Christmas 1985 was memorable. Clyde and I had gotten together in September, and this was our first Christmas together. I sent the Ed and Becca to Phoenix, and James went to his mother's. We had the time to ourselves, and we had reservations in Breckenridge. We were going skiing! By ourselves! And we weren't coming back until after Christmas, so we were staying at least 4 days. If only I'd known....
We got up there on the 23rd, got our lift tickets and took off on a ski lift. First run, on a simple blue slope, at the top of the mountain, I took a twisting fall. And SNAP! I tore the acl in my knee. Oh bummer. If you have never been pulled off a mountain strapped into one of their sleds heading downhill headfirst, you really haven't lived! All you can see is the sky, and the tops of some of the trees!
And there's only the one ski patrol guy in front to keep you from going all the way down headfirst.
Got to the clinic, they checked out the knee and said the acl was torn. I couldn't walk on it like it was, so I got a splint, from thigh to ankle, to keep the leg straight. And some crutches! Boy was I upset. I started crying because I had messed up our vacation, and on the very first day!
We got to the hotel, and stayed overnight. The next day, the 24th, we headed home, getting there in the evening. The next day was Christmas, and I didn't even have anything in the house to fix a nice dinner. The only place we could find open was Eidelweiss, and they did have an opening for lunch/dinner. So we ate Christmas dinner out. Now I knew that we were going to eat Christmas dinner out that year, but I had been expecting to ski before and after.
When I got to the doctor the next week, he casted the leg from thigh to ankle, and that's how I walked for the next month. When he took it off, I had to go to Physical Therapy to get the knee working. (But I did get a new mountain bike out of this, and a wind trainer to put it on so I could ride stationary, it was good exercise for the knee.)
And, as soon as the doctor said I could ski again, I was back on skis. But that year my ski season was kinda short, since I missed 3 months of it.
Stay tuned for part 4.
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