This is what happens when you connect with a tree:

Our first family sledding trip was somewhat more eventful than expected. We took them out to the lake, got the sleds all set up, and watched with bated breath as the kids took off down the hill. But then Thumper’s sled veered right.

He was flying down the hill and headed right for a stand of trees.

“He’ll slow down,” Seymour said. “Don’t worry.”

“Okay,” I replied, growing ever more tense as Thumper’s sled shot closer to the trees.

And then it happened.

The sled hit a tree.

The sled slid up the trunk a couple of inches. Thumper flew head over heels between a pair of trees and into a snowbank.

I winced, and prepared to take off down the hill after him.

“He’s okay,” Seymour assured me.

“Okay.”

But then the crying started.

“He’s fine,” Seymour repeated as Miss Tadpole and Bubbles ran for their sobbing brother. “He’s just a little shaken up. I’d be worried if he wasn’t crying.”

“MOM!”

I started running down the hill at Bubbles’ shout, but Seymour dove into a sled and shoved off like his life depended on it. He reached the trees before I was halfway down the hill.

“He’s fine,” he called, moments before I reached the bottom. “It’s just a bloody nose.”

I kept running and gave Thumper a big hug. He was still whimpering, so I took his hand and started trudging back up the hill.

“Mommy, I don’t like sledding anymore,” he said as we walked.

“You’ll be okay,” I told him. “Nothing’s broken.”

“Mommy, I want you to carry me.”

“You can walk. Your legs aren’t broken.”

“Yes, they are!”

I laughed. “No, they’re not. Do you want to sit with me for a little bit when we get to the top of the hill?”

“Okay.”

We reached the top of the hill and had a seat. Bubbles, Cricket, Seymour, and Miss Tadpole kept on sledding, and it wasn’t long before Thumper decided he needed to go with them. He was still a little nervous, though, so he rode down with Bubbles a time or two. And in the end, he couldn’t wait to sled another day.

Have you ever connected with a tree – or anything else – while sledding?

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