I spent my first day on the mountain today. It didn't start out perfectly. My clothes are so many years past their waterproof prime, I'm pretty sure they actually absorb moisture. My rented gear was the wrong size, and the guy at the rental shop put my bindings on the wrong way. But once I got on the mountain, none of that mattered.

Seth and I rode for a few hours. It was that perfect northeast day. Not too crowded. Not too cold. Beautiful white snow pushed around the edges.

We spend most of the time in our heads. Analyzing. Judging. Acting. But, sometimes, if we're lucky, we get these incredibly perfect moments. Moments of presence. Moments that are totally independent of both the past or the future. When you aren't trying. You aren't acting.

In this world of wanting and taking and having and doing, it's nice to just submit to the beautiful silence of just being. That is the gift that the mountain gave me today.