My friend Reva likes to say, everybody has to be somewhere, I might as well be here. This week my somewhere is Chamonix, France where Jeff & I are on a trip with the Atlanta Ski Club. Chamonix is a classic European ski resort and certainly on the bucket list for those who love to ski.

Only this week most of my time will be off the mountain as I recover from a painful & lingering back injury. The short version of the story is that I had to carry our 65-pound Labrador, Daisy, around when she was having an arthritis pain episode & had trouble walking. I didn’t think about correct lifting techniques at the time, my main concern was for her comfort.

Weeks later, with no improvement, I finally went to the doctor. The good news is she thinks it was just a deep muscle strain that will heal with rest & physical therapy, not something more concerning like a disc or nerve problem. Nevertheless, I’m hesitant to over do it on the slopes & be back at square one. Jeff is scouting out some easy cruising runs for me so I can at least check the box that I’ve skied in France.

I’m certain I can find lots of things to keep me occupied off the slopes. One thing I’m looking forward to is re-connecting with my friend Cathy later in the week. She was an exchange student at my high school back in…well, it was a few years ago. She lives in Switzerland now and is planning to come to Chamonix in a few days. She actually tried to come on Sunday but they had so much snow here Friday & Saturday that the trains weren’t running. Weather looks better towards the end of the week.

What I likely will miss are the club’s day trips to Courmayeur, Italy & Verbier, Switzerland. I’ve skied in both of those countries before, in fact both in one day a couple of times, so the pressure is not on to hit another milestone.

Meanwhile I’m trying to remember my high school French, which thus far is coming out as a combination of French, Spanish & Italian. Perhaps by the end of the week I’ll get it right.

We flew from Atlanta to Zurich then took a train ride through beautiful scenery to Geneva. That allowed us a couple of days to rest & adjust to the local time before the rest of the club arrived for our transfer to Chamonix. We haven’t plotted out our return itinerary, that’s something we’ll work out later in the week (ah, the joys of standby travel).

Focusing on today, as Mont Blanc is finally trying to peek through the clouds that have enveloped the valley since we arrived, when I remember that everybody has to be somewhere, I’m fortunate to say, I might as well be in Chamonix!