“Absolutely! You should be ready to show me your Alpine champion moves, now that Chanson has taken care of your ankle. Right?” I smiled shyly, surprised and a little embarrassed that he knew this about me. Growing up with a father whose passion for skiing didn’t take to my brothers, I had no choice but to come along when he ventured to upstate New York, New Hampshire, and Vermont several times each winter. My incentive was to spend time with him, which wasn’t always easy to do, since Papa often traveled on business trips up and down the east coast. Over the years we grew close, and I developed a knack for slalom racing—good enough to receive an offer to join the University of Colorado ski team. If not for UT’s closer location to Richmond, and Pat Summit’s tenacious recruiting skills, I might’ve chosen CU instead. For a moment, I wondered how this crazy adventure might’ve turned out had that been my collegiate choice. “We will be arriving at our afternoon destination in less than ten minutes from now,”
