“Despite all I have seen 
and experienced, 
I still get the same simple 
thrill out of glimpsing a 
tiny patch of snow.” 
Edmund Hillary

Yeah, go ahead and laugh. Yes, I’m talking to you — my friends from the Midwest and East Coast. You guys know snow. Real snow. And you guys know cold… real cold like I’ve never experienced. 

Growing up in San Francisco, we didn’t get snow, that is, until January 21, 1962. On that morning, our neighbor, Lillian Gray, woke us up with an early-morning phone call to announce that it had snowed overnight. Sure enough, our backyard had a layer of snow, perhaps about an inch, at best. 

It happened again on February 5, 1976. It is said that as much as five inches accumulated on the top of Twin Peaks, while the Sunset District, where we lived, got about an inch. 

Only once in my life have I experienced real snowfall. I had taken a group of students on a weekend ski trip to North Lake Tahoe. We were staying at the Fire Light Lodge in Tahoe Vista when it was brought to my attention that snow had begun to fall outside. I stepped out onto the patio outside my room and stood in amazement as I watched the snowflakes fall silently to the ground. I was mesmerized by the silence. When it rains, you hear it. When it snows, the world seems to go silent.

I’ve lived in the Santa Clara Valley for a little more than 53 years now. While we don’t get snow on a regular basis here, we are treated to the view of snow on the peaks of the hills to the east of San José almost every year. This past week was one of those times.

As mountaineer Edmund Hillary, the first man to reach the summit of Mount Everest, said so eloquently, “…I still get the same simple thrill out of glimpsing a tiny patch of snow.” I feel the same way. To look up toward Mount Hamilton, and along the range to the north of that peak, and see a solid blanket of snow is an absolute treat for me. I’m not at all tempted to climb in the car to drive up to play in the snow. I am totally content to simply savor the beauty from here on the valley floor. 

I mentioned the cold… It was 37º when I woke up several mornings last week. That’s cold,… for us. So when I hear of temps in other cities dipping well below 0º, I can only shiver with compassion, hoping that people stay safe and warm despite the conditions. 

I am grateful for the west coast climate. I’m thankful that I’ve never had to shovel a driveway, drive my car down a snowy road, or experience anything associated with the term “wind chill factor.” I just keep reminding myself that summer will be here soon.