A super fun day skiing up at Loveland, and a rather eclectic cross-section of the Nederland population as the group. Myself, Elaine, a girl Mariah who goes to Montana State and used to be on the nordic team, Mariah's dad who is an engineer and Tom Plant, former owner of the Acoustic Coffeehouse, State Representative and current environmental advisor to Governor Bill Ritter. The traffic was heinous, and Tom had some big meeting at the capital, but still managed to get in a couple runs before heading back down the hill. That's my kind of politician. For the rest of us, it was a leg sapping day of heavy powder skiing with tons of laughs and exclamations. We jumped some cliffs, we all took some diggers and we barely survived the last couple of runs in the effort to get last chair. It's very cool how people from all walks of life can feel the same sensations when skiing. It's a good sport in that manner.

One of the coolest things I've witnessed lately is how people are coming around with Elaine and I. Mariah's dad in a joking moment said, "you must get a similar awkard pause that lesbian couples get when they say they have a kid." Indeed we do. But those pregnant pauses aside, things are coming around.  This is how I see it. If I treat Elaine like shit…lay it on me. Crucify me with everything you've got. I deserve it. But base it on reality, not silly rumors and superstitions. All we really want is to be treated with the respect that any other couple gets. Nothing less, nothing more. Same as anybody else.