Day 490 – Grayson’s Journey

Dear family and friends

We are home safe and sound after a long but very fun and exciting day. It was half-past midnight when we pulled into the driveway. The normally 5 to 6 hour trip home from Mammoth was made longer by the weather-induced slow speeds and a few accidents along the way. I do not believe that I have ever before driven for 6+ hours with the windshield wipers running the entire time. I now can say that I have! Initially the wipers were brushing snow off of the windshield, then rain as we dropped below 7000 feet. I'm glad I had them repaired prior to our trip!

Today Grayson had an outstanding day at Mammoth thanks again to the wonderful folks at Disabled Sports Eastern Sierra. Today with what otherwise could have been a great disappointment, a miracle day was achieved. Both of Grayson's scheduled volunteer instructors were faced with personal difficulties (automotive for one, family for the other) that made them unavailable. One of the two non-volunteer instructors was called in to work with Grayson and we liked him immediately. Instead of 2 on 1, today Grayson was 1 on 1 with 3 observers (Austin, Xixi and me). The first thing I noticed about this new instructor was how he spoke with Grayson, and how he set expectations. "Grayson, grab your skis and let's go!" Someone had always carried Grayson's skis before. Not anymore!

After just two runs on the beginner runs that Grayson has been doing since he first arrived at DSES, the instructor, Zachary, said that Grayson was overdue for some additional challenges. (For those of you familiar with Mammoth Mountain, Grayson has been working in Sesame Street.) So we piled into the Gondola and headed up to McCoy Station, the mid-mountain chalet. From there, Zachary led Grayson down an intermediate run (Mambo) and back to the main Lodge (via St Moritz) for another go. (From the pictures, I expect that you will note that there was a bit of snow falling!)

Grayson did incredibly well! When he got going too fast he turned to lose speed. He followed directions, and even started to "take a lesson" as Zachary was giving him some drills to work on balance and riding the "edge" during turns. It was amazing to watch. For the last run of the day, Zachary took Grayson back to the beginner run (Sesame Street) and told him, "Grayson, just have some fun. You go where you want, and I'll follow you. The only thing I ask is if I say to stop, you stop! OK?" Grayson was a bit hesitant at first, but he said yes and started down the hill. He did exceptionally well, steering to avoid people and turning to keep his speed under control, all while making choices where HE wanted to go. It was a WOW day!

Pax!

Brant