February Series - 8 Things I Love About BJ, Blog 6: His Love of Snow

8 Things I Love About BJ: His Love of Snow

Summer is for the HOT sun and winter is for the SNOW! I don’t know that I ever heard BJ complain about either of them; he loved them both. Rain on the other hand…he was not a fan of the wet stuff! His family and friends knew that our nonstop “white” winter of 2017 was compliments of BJ. Or at least it was in our hearts. He loved the snow! He loved watching it snow, he loved being in it, he loved four-wheeling in it! He just had a heart for the snow in the winter. The sun and the snow; that’s really what he loved most about living in Central Oregon. Snowy Saturday nights were for friends, beer, and bonfires. His door was always open; he loved having people around. He loved playing with Cheyenne in the snow…all little kids really. He was just a big kid at heart.

I didn’t often make the trip from the valley in the winter; but the ones I did make are quite memorable. Like Thanksgiving of 2010 when I was driving the “rabbit”; BJ’s little truck. It was rear wheel drive and I knew the weather was blizzard like so I purchased a pair of studded snow tires and I had tire chains as well. Not a fun drive. That little truck was all over the place and I was driving like 25 mph with the chains on for what seemed like a million miles. That usual 3 hour trip took 6+ hours. I was thankful that it was a long weekend before I had to make the trip back. Two years ago, the last time I spent in the snow with BJ, I couldn’t really even go out in it for very long because I was recovering from surgery. I did enjoy watching it from the warmth of the house. It was great when we went to breakfast on Saturday morning; I let BJ drive Rex. Having him drive it on roads familiar to him really showed me how well it handled in the snow and boosted my confidence when I was driving. The difference is Central Oregon gets more snow and the valley typically gets ice and I do not care to drive on the ice much. I will take snow over ice any day.

I sure do miss him and all the little things that made him who he was. When he was younger our family spent a lot of time camping in the snow and we have so many wonderful memories. I think that is where he first fell in love with snow! Snowy days, like we’ve had this week, make me smile because the snow makes me think of him and how much he loved the snow. I’m glad it’s been a good week full of good, snowy memories!