Article December 18, 2006 Issue

My #1 priority

BY RUSSEL FOGG

AFTER SNOWBOARDING for the first time in eighth grade, while I was living in Missouri, I fell in love with the sport and bought all the gear. I snowboarded all the time. I was good at it and identified with it, partly because I got recognition and made friends. But mostly snowboarding felt very much like me being me.

When I graduated from high school, I moved to Utah and joined a team. I snowboarded almost every day, competed, and worked in a snowboard shop. Then, after moving to Colorado the next year, I made it to the US Nationals and went on to compete in the US Snowboard Grand Prix tour for a few years. That's when I began seriously thinking about making a professional career out of snowboarding.

For as long as I can remember, I've made lists of what is important to me in an effort to improve my life. For the past few years, my relationship with God had always been at the top of that list, and yet my life hadn't always reflected that desire. In a way, I was feeling remorseful about this realization.