I went to bed one night being very excited to go skiing the next morning. That morning my brother Josh woke me up to start getting ready to leave. I was done packing by 9:30 a.m. We left at around 10 a.m. It was a one and half hour drive to the mountain. We were going to Alpine Valley. This was my first season skiing, and I was 14.

We were having a lot of fun. Hitting jumps, doing tricks, and going really fast. I was really enjoying myself; having a good time with my brother. I thought I was so good at skiing. I thought I was like a prodigy. I thought I was so good because I was already hitting jumps, and doing 360’s while I was skiing. It was our last run, we decided it would be fun to race. I had a slight feeling telling me not to do this. But I did it anyway because I didn’t want to look like a baby to my brother. When we got to the top of the mountain we decided to race down the black diamond (a black diamond is like the hardest rated courses on the mountain), so that we could get enough speed to just ski to the table with all of our stuff on it. This way we would be able to get our stuff really quick and then leave to go home.

He said “3, 2, 1 go!” So I went. I went as fast as I could. I was beating him. Feeling the wind on my face was one of the best feelings in the world. We got to about the middle of the mountain. I noticed this weird looking snow, I knew what it was. My heart instantly dropped. What I saw was synthetic snow. This snow on the mountain would just stop my skis no matter what. No matter what technique I did, no matter how fast I was going, my skis would stop. I freaked out. There was nothing I could do. I was going way too fast to just bail and not get hurt. I decided to try to go through the snow and see if it would be different. It was not different. My skis stopped completely while I was going around 40 mph down the mountain and I went flying. I probably flew around 20 feet. I landed wrong on my arm and SNAP! went to my arm. I started rushing down the mountain to get the ski patrol to help me. They gave me some things to hold my arm up while I drove the 2 hour ride back home to go to the hospital. My brother drove me to my mom, then I was taken to the hospital. Here is where I started to think to myself, why? Why would I race down the mountain even though I knew there was that snow around the mountain. I could have taken it slow. Had fun on the last run. But no, I had to be stupid and now I’m suffering the consequences. I was laying there wondering why I had to be so un-humble about how good I thought I was. It wasn’t like I was going around telling everyone that I’m better than them, but in the back of my head I thought I was so good. That was obviously very untrue. I had surgery to put plates in my arm a week later. I am still recovering from this injury. I love the doctors I had for all of this, they were the best of people, and I am so grateful they did such a wonderful job fixing my arm.

I learned two things that day, never take your health for granted, and be humble.

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