My Wet Coast Life

Losing a friend or family member is never a joyful experience. Losing them to a preventable accident is even worse. It has taken me awhile just to wrap my head around the facts that have arisen in regards to my friend Jayna Haddock being killed by a drunk driver on April 12, 2008 and what i have learned in the last week or so.

I grew up with Jayna living down the road in what i would describe as a small micro-community where there is one main road in and most of the neighbors know each other and all the kids are welcome at each other's house. This almost guaranteed anyone in that area always had someone around the same age to play with. Even though most of us from that time frame have grown up, moved out, married and lost some contact, we all still try to meet when we can to reminisce about those days and the fun we had. Sadly, we have had one less friend that can join us for the last 2 years.

Up to this point, I've tried to avoid learning more about the trial and events of that night. I sum it up to my friend was killed by a drunk driver, they caught the guy but he still denies it, trial will be awhile but he should be found guilty. So i continued on in life and every so often remember Jayna and then kick myself again because she died 2 weeks before we had planned to meet up. 2 weeks. 1 pay check. We had not spoken in over 10 years due to me traveling and moving to different cities. We recently started chatting again thanks to Facebook (it does do some good every-so-often). I even wrote about it, 1 year after Jayna died, when British Columbia first announced the new proposed, now implemented, drinking and driving laws, still not knowing anything more at that time other than my friend was killed by a drunk driver.

Well, this all changed this week for me as he was just sentenced. 2 and a half years after it happened, I decided now I wanted to know more and was shocked at to what i found. Just shocked. So many emotions come back to mind and a lot tend to head towards anger, rage and frustration as well as sadness. Some of this info was available earlier but to me, this was new and changed everything for me. For those that want to stay in the little bubble like I did, stop reading now.

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This week I was fortunate enough to be the lucky winner of 99.3 The FOX member's only contests. Now I've won stuff in the past on the radio but never through the online member pages and it's been a long time since i won anything substantial. This particular prize just happen to make my day, week, month and year. I won the Warren Miller's Wintervention ski trip to Big White ski resort! What a way to start an extended Remembrance day long weekend. I am the proud recipient of 5 days of skiing up in Kelowna, B.C. at the Big White ski resort. I also won tickets to see the screening of Warren Miller's Wintervention at the Center in downtown Vancouver. Never actually been to one of these, i was somewhat enthusiastic to see what Warren Miller had planned for this year and in a theater setting.

In the past I've watched some Warren Miller shows, but always at a friends place who happened to be a ski enthusiast and never in a theater environment. Now what the titles were, i cannot recall but they always made me want to drop everything and go for some runs through some fresh powder. Living on the west coast, we have ample selection of mountains to ski on at our door step. Being a recent host of the Olympics, most have gotten a decent overhaul in runs and amenities. With picture perfect back drops, i expected some of British Columbia's finest mountains to appear in this year's showcase.

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