I have just come back from a night away staying with my daughter at the Bulldog Hotel at Silver Star, B.C.. I do believe that it is emotionally healthy to practice mindfulness and fully appreciate what is taking place at that moment. However, there is a lot to be said for a good dose of nostalgia. Silver Star brings back to me all the winters that we went there as a family, some days to ski for the day, and other times for a weekend. I would book an assortment of condos, cabins, houses and hotel rooms all over the mountain. We rarely stayed anywhere twice. On two occasions we celebrated Christmas on the mountain. What occurred to me during the stay that I have more acute nostalgia for Silver Star at this time in my life than our old home on the farm. I still am not able to recall the farm with any great clarity despite the years of living there, my heart remains shielded. It was Silver Star that provided the refuge for our family during those last painful years on the farm, our stays there coinciding perfectly with the time that the troubles began. The days away was enough for our family to regroup and find some peace and normality.
Christmas 2007 at Silver Star with the family
Aidan teaching one of his cousin's how to ski at Silver Star
Silver Star circa 2008. On the chair lift.
Fun in the hot tub at Silver Star
Silver Star circa 2007.
Our children did not learn to ski at Silver Star, but started with the Jackrabbit program at Larch Hills. My husband and I taught classes, babies strapped to on our backs, fishing children out of snow banks and putting on frozen mitts and hats. This type of structured programming is in sharp contrast to how I learned to ski which was on the farm.
Larch hills circa 1995. We taught the Jackrabbit program until the birth of our third child at which point we gave up. It was just too complicated juggling our own small children and everyone else's!
I spent my youth skiing all through the forest trails and fields on the farm as we still had the large snow packs during those years. The snow lasted well into the first few years that my husband and I lived on the farm with our young children. By the time the snow was no longer falling in sufficient amounts to ski in we had all moved to the downhill slopes.
Circa 1974 on the farm, learning to ski down the driveway to our house.
My father in is signature orange toque going for a ski on the farm with his niece and her son from Switzerland. I love that my father is wearing exactly the same thing he would have on to feed the cows in.
My childhood home looking more like a ski chalet than a farmhouse with the skis propped up along the wall. It was wonderful to be able to ski out your front door.
I am thankful to have the years of Silver Star as one of the touchstones of our family history. In time I would like to reminisce in the same way about the farm, but for the moment we have this connection to a time and place that bring memories of family and friends together.
Marlee and I on our ski trip to Silver Star January 2018
Marlee and I, Silver Star Christmas 2010
Our children did not learn to ski at Silver Star, but started with the Jackrabbit program at Larch Hills. My husband and I taught classes, babies strapped to on our backs, fishing children out of snow banks and putting on frozen mitts and hats. This type of structured programming is in sharp contrast to how I learned to ski which was on the farm.
I spent my youth skiing all through the forest trails and fields on the farm as we still had the large snow packs during those years. The snow lasted well into the first few years that my husband and I lived on the farm with our young children. By the time the snow was no longer falling in sufficient amounts to ski in we had all moved to the downhill slopes.
I am thankful to have the years of Silver Star as one of the touchstones of our family history. In time I would like to reminisce in the same way about the farm, but for the moment we have this connection to a time and place that bring memories of family and friends together.
Marlee and I, Silver Star Christmas 2010
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