Skullcandy headphones are great and all, but I don’t really need them. What I do need is a ticket to a mountain with snow so I can practice my crossblocking, instead of sweating my male genitals (I’m a girl, it’s not literal) off in Palm Beach County, two hours north of Miami. Sure, living in “paradise” sounds fun, but this isn’t my kind of paradise. Tan lines aren’t the lines I want, and the biggest hill here is Dyre Park, a landfill. Instead of doing something productive such as skiing, I’ll seal myself away in my room, studying a ridiculous amount of advanced classes with the hope that I’ll get a scholarship to a mountain college where I can finally do what I’ve been dreaming about for five million years. I was born in the north to a FIS-racing mom and a beach-loving dad, and now I am where I am. I know it sounds selfish, ranting about everything I don’t have, but I just want the chance to feel winter for more than twelve days. I want to feel the frustration of having to put tire chains on my car, or forgetting my season pass at home and having to drive all the way back to get it. I don’t want to be a tourist who just sees the nice side of winter, I want to feel it all. And I can’t.

So this whole story has been about how boo hoo, girl can’t go skiing. Other people have bigger issues. Other people can’t ski, even if they live on a mountain. This Stephanie person obviously didn’t grasp the concept of overcoming obstacles.

But I have. I’ve come this far in my pursuit of skiing, and I will not be stopped. I will not be stopped by my classmates, who think that I’m too obsessed and I’ll never get anywhere. I will not be stopped by some people in my family, on both maternal and paternal sides, who think it’s a waste of my time. I will not be stopped by financial issues, which get in the way of almost everything since my mom found out that she has a problem that starts with c and rhymes with dancer. I will not be stopped by society, which says that I’m too young to know what I really want, that I should take an ordinary path in life, that it’s too late for me to develop the skills needed to go professional. I have not been stopped, and I will not be stopped, because I have pushed too hard and worked against the odds for too long to give up now. I will be the girl from Florida, with little money, little support, and big dreams that makes it. Because if my mom managed to go skiing in between chemo sessions, and she stands behind me, then I can definitely do what I love. I always have been my mother’s daughter.