“Of course, they made me go in the front, why did I agree with this?” I thought to myself as our tiny blue sled bolted down the snowy hills. Mountains of wet, cold powder rushed into the sockets of my eyes. My vision was blurred. I couldn’t see a thing.
“1… 2… 3... , JUMP!” shouted Alyssa.
She could actually see where we were because she was lucky enough to be in the back. We didn’t want to continue onto the frozen pond. Katie, Alyssa, and I darted off the sled and barrel rolled onto the snow. Our puffy winter clothes broke our fall . . . thankfully.
We began trotting up the hill, a few houses down from Alyssa’s house, to our starting point. Naturally, Katie being her clumsy self; let go of the white sled string and the tiny blue sled slowly slid down the hill onto the icy, cold, frozen pond below. “Oh great: This is going to bring trouble!” I exclaimed in my head.
  Katie was full of fear when she realized that she was going to have to go get the sled. She knew that Alyssa and I would make her go.  With slow, doubtful, steps Katie began to walk to the center area of the frozen pond. She wanted to go fast, but without breaking the ice. Like a pitcher on the baseball mound, Katie grabbed the sled and threw it back up the hill to Alyssa and me. She then took off running, like a squirrel darting in front of a car. The tread on her boots didn’t help her keep a steady balance - Katie biffs it! Down she goes right on her tailbone along with Alyssa and me as our legs got weak. Alyssa and I rolled on the snow in silence, because we were laughing so hard we couldn’t breathe!
“That’s going to leave a mark!” I exclaimed, after getting enough breath to finish my sentence. Poor crippled Katie was still sitting on the ice. While holding her tailbone in pain, she stood up and walked of the pond in a manner that resembled a turtle.
I whispered to Alyssa, “Look! Katie’s hat is on the pond, it must have fallen off when she whipped out. Should we tell her?”.
“No, I think she’ll eventually find out!” replied Alyssa. Trying not to laugh, we stood up from the snow and walked over to Katie. Expectedly, Alyssa and I started chuckling.
“What!!? Do I have mud on my chin or frost in my hair,” she sarcastically questioned, while rubbing her chin and feeling her hair. “Oh wait, where did my hat go, I just had it a second ago before I….”
Katie, without hurry put her focus onto her cute, warm, colorful, hat laying in the middle of the frosty, frozen pond.
Katie slouched her shoulders forward a began to walk towards her hat. Alyssa and I watched and hoped she would fall again . . .like great friends would do. Katie leaned down, irritated, and got a grip on her hat. She raised it over her head and placed the cold, damp hat onto her head. In frustration, Katie stood up and started walking off the pond. Alyssa and I continued to watch her. Suddenly, with an unexpected pause, Kaitlyn Anne Nippa feel into the frozen pond like a drip falling off of the sink faucet!!!!
There was an unanticipated pause. Katie was struggling to get out while Alyssa and I were on our knees, in the snow, once again. She attempted to jump out of the chilling water, but kept landing on her knees on the ice. Clearly, this wasn't a good way to do it. Katie scuffled to get out, like a fish trying to get back into the water, and received no help from Alyssa and me. With determination, clumsy Katie finally made her way onto the surface of the frozen pond. Alyssa and I were still dying on the ground. Katie sprinted off that pond like sasquatch was on her tail. When she arrived to Alyssa’s and I’s point in the snow, she dropped to her knees with us. She was lucky no one was around or else that would have been embarrassing!
“I almost died, but that was really fun!” Katie pronounced, out of breath. “I’m going to go back on the frozen pond, once I catch my breath. Who’s coming?”.
“I will, but I’m not going to go anywhere near where you feel in! I don’t want that to happen to me!” I replied. “I’m going to regret this!” I thought to myself in doubt. As me and katie were having fun, sliding back and forth on the pond, Alyssa sat on the side of the pond like a lonely little chicken. She did not want to go on the pond because she didn’t want to take any chances.
Sliding back and forth, Katie and I would hive five, do cartwheels, and fall on our butts, but not as nearly as dramatic as Katie did before. When we walked on the outside of the pond, the ice would crack because it wasn’t like ice it was like slush. After two hours, our boots, gloves, and our body from the ankles up were soaked. The smell of musty wet clothes filled the air.
Finally, after 30 minutes of peer pressure, we convinced Alyssa to give it a try.
Alyssa, Katie, and I had a very fun and exciting time on the pond that day. It came with some near death situations, bruised tailbones and freezing cold noses, but it all turned out to be a great winter day! In this experience, I learned to be cautious when around areas that could cause a problem. Without caution, many bad things could happen. Also, I learned that friends make everything more enjoyable and less stressful. If I had done this experience alone, and feel into the frozen pond, I would have been very scared and a nervous wreck. Friends relieved the pressure. Overall, this day was a thrilling time to be apart of. There were many ups and downs but in the end, our first time sledding together turned out to be super fun. To this day, every time I think about this moment, it puts a grin from ear to ear on my face.