I'm Gretchen Rubin and this is a little happier.

Several years ago I had a conversation that I've never forgotten.

I was at a party and I ran into someone I hadn't seen for a long time.

She was the mother of a girl in my daughter Eliza's nursery school class.

I'd always really liked her, but while we'd always been friendly,

we'd never become close friends, and I hadn't seen her in years. So I was

really happy to get the chance to catch up. She and her family had recently been

on a skiing trip and she told me what a great time they'd had.

Do you ski? she asked.

No, I said it's not my kind of thing.

Oh, you should try it, she said.

It's a wonderful activity, especially as a family.

You're outside in nature, it's beautiful,

it's great exercise.

It's a really fun adventure to share.

I get it, I answered.

All that sounds terrific. I've tried it but I'm really

uncoordinated so I'm not good at that kind of physical activity I really suffer

from the cold so doing things in the snow does not appeal to me.

Plus I dislike having to handle lots of equipment.

So it's not something that I find appealing.

It's a relief to me that my husband has a bad knee.

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