CURATOR’S NOTE
Thank god for mothers. Right? When no one else would come through with a story, my mother- Suz, got worried about me and emailed the missive below. It was not intended as a story, per se, but an offering of things she might write about. I decided to run it as it was. I hope you (and she) will forgive me. Oh, and by the way- I still need a couple of stories!
SUSIE HASTINGS
Norwich VT/Hanover NH
SHastingsCCC@aol.com
I remember it well….
Glancing out the kitchen window, seeing Jeff building his own ski jump. He was 3. And the terrain was flat. But a new ski jumper had emerged.
I remember it well….
Jeff was 9 and asked if he could start taking ski jumping lessons. Paul and I said we would go along with what the Ford Sayre ski instructor, Al Snite, suggested, feeling confident that in his wisdom, he would say 9 was too young. Wrong – he said it was the perfect age.
I remember it well…
“Don’t worry, Susie – nobody ever goes off the jump the first day, they just ride the landing hill.” I put the lump in my stomach to rest. Two hours later: “Where’s Jeff?” He was nowhere to be seen. “Oh, he’s been jumping all afternoon.”
The lump returned where it remained for the decades of Jeff, Brad and Chris jumping – and jumping and jumping.
I remember it well….
The years of picking up other kids on the way to a ski jumping events all over the east – an early morning breakfast on the way as an important part of the tradition.
I remember it well…
“I’m sorry, Jeff, I didn’t mean to beat you.” when brother Brad, two years younger, would have a good day and beat Jeff…I’m not sure who it was harder for.
I remember it well…
Paul’s headache as he tried to do the math to figure out if Chris’s last jump at the 1988 Olympic tryouts might have been enough for him to qualify for the team (it was… by less than a point, I believe).
I remember it well…
Glancing out the kitchen window 10 years ago, seeing the young boy next door, Caleb Zuckerman, building a ski jump in his yard. And the terrain was flat. And I knew (and warned his mother) that a new ski jumper had emerged.
I remember it well….
WE CRACKED $50K & 100 DONORS! THANK YOU!
WINDING DOWN, FOLKS… GET YOUR NAME ON THE LIST!
ALL FUNDS, WHETHER DONATED THROUGH THE NORDIC COMBINED OR THE SKI JUMPING LINK, WILL GO TO THE DEVELOPMENT AND TOP TEAMS OF BOTH PROGRAMS!
JUST 4 MORE DAYS TO GIVE!
CONSIDER A DONATION IN (HIGHLY APPRECIATED) STOCK
USANS is set-up to accept donations of public stocks. As a donor you get full credit tax write off for the value of the stock and avoid paying any taxes on the capital gain associated with that stock. Win Win! INSTRUCTIONS: Wire stock to LPL Financial, DTC 0075; Account: USA Nordic no. 3532-8923; contact: Paul Tan. If you have questions, call or email Paul Tan at (435)962-4548 or paul.tan@lpl.com
