I have been told countless times that practice makes perfect. But recently I heard something that was even truer. Since no one is perfect, there is no way practice can make perfect. Instead practice makes permanent. The more we practice something the more habitual it becomes; whether it be sports, music, or brushing ones teeth, practicing these activities leads to a more permanent skill developed. This is all well and good on paper, but there are exceptions to every rule. I found this exception on the walk back to the dorm last night.
Much to my delight, most of this week has been white with snow. We finally got the wintery wonderfulness I had been longing for. This unfortunately means I have to walk everywhere because I already have proven my skill on a bicycle to be more comical then useful and I felt adding ice to the equation would just make life more challenging. Mostly because it takes way too long to get places, I have despised walking as a method of transportation in all areas where I can avoid it. Walking through cities is, on the other hand, mostly nice because I see more and can stop and take pictures at will. Walking through campus just becomes tedious.
After spending the afternoon frolicking in the snow like small children, we were very tired, but very content to have enjoyed the weather in its fullness. I had one last thing I had to do for the day before I could call it quits. I was to document a worship service via videos and pictures. It was not something I sweat much so I loaded my backpack with my cameras, tripod, stabilizer and my few accessories, to make sure things didn't go amiss, and traipsed across campus. It was growing especially cold as the evening drew nearer. This was nice because it meant the snow might be hanging around. Unfortunately it also meant more ice. I would soon forget that last part to joy of everyone around me.
After a successful and uneventful session I packed up my belongings and headed back with the group. I had my favorite winter hat perched somewhat precariously atop my head and when I went to run up and startle the small group ahead of me with the flash on my camera, it happened. Some say that words cannot describe how fantastic it was. I woke up this morning and words came to mind, but they were mostly grunts of pain and soreness. But the best description I could find is of a giraffe suddenly discovering what ice is after running on solid ground.
It happened this way. The aforementioned hat that was previously perched ever so precariously atop the vertex of my very being, released it's grasp in fantastic fanfare. As I was running up to the group the wind of my immense speed caught it and robbed me of my warmth and was about to destroy my pride. As I had mentioned I had developed at this point, a fantastic speed. Unfortunately I had worn my shoes with good traction earlier in the day when we were out frolicking and they had become wet and uncomfortable to wear. So I was wearing my approach shoes, which are half rock climbing shoe half regular shoe. Super useless on ice. May as well have been wearing newly waxed skis. The tremendous speed that I had acquired took some time to change and even though I am adept at walking upon ice, I had, in this moment, forgotten the one basic thing, always keep your feet moving. As my feet and head were trading places I realized my wrong doing and was about to pay for it in pride points. I hit the ground with what must have been an epic velocity because I found myself suddenly the recipient of a great amount of laughing. As I gathered my wits and replayed in my mind what just happened, I also began to laugh. It must have been hilarious to see and I was kind of sad I didn't get to see it. The giraffe's now useless legs flailing about, trying desperately to stay upright, sliding across the ice in cartoonish awesomeness. It was a fall for the ages, or so my neck and back now tell me. Everyone there was so happy they got to witness it. I guess I was happy to oblige? As the story got retold to those who didn't see it, words were replaced with bouts of laughter and it started a fun evening making everything turn out well in the end.
Practice clearly doesn't make perfect. I have been walking on snow and ice my entire life. It is really not that hard for me at least eighty percent of the time. And while practice does make permanent habits, changing something as simple as footwear can drastically change the outcome of something we may have worked years to perfect. I am still working on perfecting the art of walking, even on dry flat ground…but maybe, with any luck, I will get there some day.
