The chances of 16 inches of snow in March, in Virginia, are slim to none, but today there were records broken. The chances of me having a snowboarding trip planned the same day of a giant blizzard, are well, nonexistent. Nonetheless, I found myself this morning on Interstate-64 West panicking as my friend Kim navigated back and forth across the snow and ice covered highway.
I-64, and this was a “good” section.
As I panicked (see picture below), she kept reminding me that adventure is the spice of life. “If you don’t take risks, you waste your soul,” Drew Barrymore once said, and she was right. Taking risks is scary, but today, thanks to the push of a friend, I took a risk and couldn’t be happier for it. After seeing over 100 trees down on the road, we arrived at the base of Wintergreen mountain to find out that the power was out and the road up was impassable. We grabbed a cold meal at a local diner without power and convinced a stranger to drive us up the mountain in his jeep. The resort was buzzing with people cradling beers and bundled up, the only explainable thing to do in a blizzard on top of a mountain without power.
Me, terrified in the car as we were at a dead stop on the highway for over 65 minutes. I was worried that we would get stuck.
Kim and I played in the 16 inches of snow, snow so high that I can barely move…and just as we settled in for the afternoon with books and resignation that we would have a chilly night of living without power, the power kicked on. Cheers from throughout the lodges reverberated through every wall as the light and heat flickered back on.
J.K. Rowling once wrote,“Let us step into the night and pursue that flighty temptress, adventure,” and that is exactly what I did today. Everyone needs adventure in their life. Everyone. It’s okay to be scared, it’s okay to be nervous, but whatever you do, just make sure that you pursue stepping outside of your comfort zone.