The White Crayon

My friends from Copper and I were doing a bar crawl a few weeks ago and I decided to take this crayon from the hostess stand. I have no clue why I did it at the time, I just thought "I bet at some point this night, my white crayon will come in handy." That crayon never came in handy, but it has remained in my pocket since that night. Every time I put that jacket on, I wonder what that object is in my pocket, pull out the crayon, and then put it back in. A couple of nights ago, I picked up Kelsey and explained to her the story of the white crayon. "I'm afraid to throw it out. I feel like if I throw it out I'll get bad luck or something."


Friday, I went up to Winter Park for a few hours and went riding for the first time since I broke my arm. I was definitely timid for the first few runs until I dropped the Parsenne Bowl. Only after then did I feel like I finally got my ride back. It felt so good to get out of the house and back on the mountain.

Saturday morning I woke up early to try get a few turns in before my 10am shift started. I was a little skeptical about skiing without any poles. I haven't done that since ski instructing last season. But it went really well and motivated me to get out to A-Basin on Tuesday.

After a few runs I got into work around 9:30 and Michael (our manager) called me into his office. "Andy, grab the door. I've listened to a few of your phone calls.....you misquoted this customer and said that he had a kitchen....told this customer that he could get a group rate with his party of 18......etc, I'm gonna have to let you go."

I packed up my stuff and headed over to ski and ride school in hopes of getting an instructing job. As I was driving over, Michael called me back and said that "due to the nature of your termination, you are not allowed to work at Copper for 1 year." I dropped off my season pass at Human Resources, called Winter Park and left a message on Bryan's voice mail requesting my job back (he's the head kid's ski instructor and a pretty good friend of mine). I can't believe I just got fired.

I got home at 10:30am, cracked open a beer and sent out 8 applications to Vail, Beaver Creek and Breckenridge. Skiing and snowboarding are my primary outlets for stress - losing this job adds anxiety and takes away those outlets.

Later that evening, Kelsey came over after work and says "Andy, I have something to give you. It's probably going to make you upset." She reached in her pocket and pulled out the white crayon. "I was walking down my hallway this morning to go to work, and I saw it laying on the ground. I couldn't believe it when I read your text message. You were right about the crayon."

We had a couple beers, walked to Main Street to meet up with some friends at a bar called Ollie's. About five of my friends from the call center including one of my other supervisors, my friend Samira and ALEX WHITE eventually made it out. Alex arrived yesterday evening and is staying in Breck with some friends for the week. You can see from the picture below that we welcomed him to Summit County appropriately :)

That's Alex, Me (representing the Red Wings) and Kelsey doing a "shot-ski."

I felt terrible when I woke up this morning, but it was worth it. Definitely cleared my mind and it was great seeing Alex (he's the first friend I've seen from back home since August). I still can't believe I lost my job at Copper.

Hopefully all is not lost. About 30 minutes ago I received a phone call from my buddy Southy at Winter Park and said that Bryan will be giving me a call later tonight. So keep your fingers crossed.