Getting the lights all untangled and the ornaments hung one by one never bothered me. We usually had family gatherings where everyone would take part so you could always hide in the bathroom if it got too intense. My grandmothers (both the Methodist and the Jewish one) would each spend meticulous hours opening the…

By Merisa Sherman You can see the stars overhead, twinkling against the shimmering clouds in the night sky. There are moments of clear, but this is Vermont. The clouds move about as they will, blocking different constellations throughout the evening. Almost as if by drawing your focus to different moments in the night sky, they…

  Ever get to the mountain and find that you are missing an essential piece of equipment — like your boots — or just don’t have the right goggle lens for the day? Well, I have a bag for that. No seriously, I hate having everything loose in my car, especially when I might be driving…

It’s that lovely time of year where we gather around a table with our family and closest friends. We fly across the country and drive for hours to interact with our loved ones or just sit staring at the parades and football games on television. Some of us go for a trot or a hike…

  I make the first few turns and I can feel my right leg is uncooperative. My femur is initializing the turns just fine but I can feel the latency on the finish, causing the inside edge of my tip to get caught on whatever sugar snow it can find. The delay in my right…

  We did not want to miss a moment of the pregame festivities this year, so we pulled into the parking lot around 8 a.m. Barely able to sleep, we were there two hours before the lifts were scheduled to start. But we were not the only ones with our eyes on the prize, unable to…

  You could feel the air changing. Even inside the house, I knew that this morning would be different. The air was just that much thinner and my hands were cold as they lay outside my blanket. I could actually feel my fingers stiffening up and had to pull them back inside when I woke up for a…

  By Merisa Sherman     I can feel the cold air entering my nose as I take a deep breath. I dare not open my mouth, because I just brushed my teeth and it will just feel too damn cold. I am on the chairlift, my legs swinging underneath me as the chair floats…

No matter the time of day, I love laying on my blanket in the middle of a field and staring up at the sky. While you are the one that walks through the forest to create movement, the sky appears the exact opposite. Only when you lie perfectly still can you track the movements of…

  A few steps beyond my front door and I am engulfed in a swarm of leaves. The wind lifts their lifeless yet multicolored selves off of the cold ground and they swirl around me. My hair flies all around me, caught up on the energy of the wind. I am part of the experience,…

Oh man, do I wish autumn lasted longer. Or that the days were longer within the season. I cannot get enough of this absolutely perfect fall weather that we’ve been having. I mean, driving to work every morning I think this must be peak and then the next day is even brighter and more full…

Ahhh, foliage. The air is crisp and clean as the humidity literally vanishes into thin air. The trees, once a vibrant shade of green, begin to mute and change, dying off before our very eyes. Once almost all the same, they now show their differences to us, the varieties within varieties, as each turns at…

  Stepping into the conference room, I look down at the ring on my finger and know that I can do this. If you haven’t figured me out already, I am an introvert. I do well with one person or two, but an entire room or bar full of people sends my heart to pump…

  This will be an adventure, I thought as I pulled into the boat launch. Well, it looked like the boat launch but there was no water to be seen anywhere. Not like that commercial where the water is drained from the ocean because a tidal wave is coming. No, a great fog had settled…

Walking in the woods reveals truths, connections I’ve been here many times before, but today it’s a secret adventure. I slide my foot through the ferns, trying to find a solid placement for my foot. The ground is still quite a bit muddy even though it’s been dry out lately. I find a solid bit of…