Something We All Can Share!
Helen Hardware (41), a spiritual hypnotherapist helenhardware.com lives in South Yorkshire with her husband Tim, who helped fulfil one of her childhood dreams with a very thoughtful gift.
“I’d always wanted to learn snowboarding which somehow always seemed sexier than skiing but never had the opportunity. I went to the Sheffield ski slope a few times as a kid but didn’t have money to learn.
“I met my husband Tim almost 10 years ago through a shared love of cycling but he also snowboards and wanted to be able to share that with me. Four years ago he bought me a taster lesson for an indoor slope and I loved it, but put it on the back burner. Then in 2019 he persuaded me that we should go on a snow holiday, so it forced me to learn. I did a zero to hero day, which was really tough and I came away black and blue from falling over but I’d got the basics. I did another couple of lessons at Milton Keynes and thought I’d got the hang of it then we went to France in January 2020.
That was a whole other ball game. I sat at the top of the slope in tears and petrified. I pretty much slid down the mountain on my bum. One day I was at the top of the mountain crying and my friend helped me down the mountain by literally dancing me down – he held my hands and showed me how to move – otherwise I’d never have got down.
“After three days of constantly falling, bruising my coccyx and banging my head I booked some 1:1 lessons which totally transformed my ability to at least stay upright. By the end of the week I’d gotten a grip and was laughing myself down the same slopes I’d cried down on the first day. The sense of freedom when I finally ‘got it’ and could stop worrying and enjoy the breath-taking views made all the bumps and bruises worthwhile.
“I bought my own board on the way home – bidding on eBay from the airport – and we planned another mountain holiday last year but then Covid hit.
“We’d planned to go out to the Alps again the third week of March but fortunately had decided to get a last minute deal as that was the same week we went into lockdown.
“As soon as lockdown lifted we were back on the indoor slopes, both last summer and again this year and we can’t wait to get back to the mountains this winter –
Covid permitting.”
“I pretty much slid down the mountain on my bum”