Christmas Guilt

[grskier]

Get your crew back there at some point, make a holiday out of it. I didn't go home for 3 1/2 years. I sort of regret not going back for so long, but I also can't get my mother out here for shit. She's visited me once in the 6 years I've been out here. My father comes out skiing at least once a year, so thats not as bad. When I fly back, it's fun, we get the whole family together, I don't give a hoot about the holidays really, so it not being a crazy as shit time of year helps because everyone isn't so freaking stressed.

[Chainsaw_Willie]

It sounds like someone really needs to be honest and assess his feelings about his mother and his family.

Do you really love your mother? Is your family the kind of peeps you WANT to spend time with? If the answers to these questions are "yes" then it's just plain selfish shortsightedness to not go visit them. It's not like you couldn't stash away a little money each month over the course of a year for the plane tickets.

But, I've always felt that actions speak louder than words. Perhaps spending time with your family is painful for you for reasons other than potentially lost skiing. I mean, c'mon, you have skied as much as you can for 11 years. Missing a few days one year, or even each and every year, is nothing if your family is something that brings joy into your life. If you don't like your family for some reason, then be honest with yourself about it.

Or, maybe, I'm just not worthy of even talking about such things on this board. I mean, I love skiing, and I do it as much as I can, but I'd give up an entire season of the best snow ever to spend one more Christmas with my mother if I could. And I spend every Thanksgiving and Christmas with my father because he's not going to be around forever and some things really are more important than skiing.