Zoe Killian

Serenity, with the help of my dad, is what I decided to name my snowboard. She is pink with a drawing of a record being spun by long fingers adorned with sparkly rings and bracelets. My snowboard is one of my most prized possessions, not only because of her beauty, but because of what I am able to do with her.

This past spring break, my parents and I went on a trip to Colorado. My dad and I are avid snowboarders while my mom prefers to stay warm by the fire. He and I often find ourselves on crazy adventures, mostly because I’m the only one in the family who won’t say no to his adrenaline fueled ideas. One day, he suggested we try to hike up this peak and snowboard down and naturally I found myself taking a chair lift to the highest point on the mountain.

Once we stepped off the lift and began our nearly vertical climb to the top, the weight of my decision began to sink in. The air was getting thin and I was finding it difficult to breathe. However, with the motivation my board gave me I turned up the volume of my headphones and tried to focus on each step in front of me. Serenity became my stable crutch to keep from slipping off the peak. Eventually, we made it to the top. It was a flat area with steep drop-offs on either side and provided no comfort to my impending fear. This was the moment that I realized the only way down was by jumping off one of those edges.

With every step I took closer to the edge, my heart beat faster. I slowly lowered myself to the ground to strap feet into my faithful board. I looked over to my father who was lying flat on his stomach peeking over the edge. Seeing him like this did not give me any confidence in our situation. When we both were buckled in, I inched closer to the six foot drop-off I was getting ready to tackle. At the moment, I was terrified, but I knew waiting would only make it worse. So I turned up my Taylor Swift anthems and jumped.

Both of us made it safely down and as we sat at the base of the peak staring up at what we had accomplished, neither of us could believe we had actually done it. The trail we went down was called the Serenity Bowl and in honor of that moment, which is possibly the coolest thing I have ever done, I named my snowboard after it.