ssshhh....

Everything I remember about Fernie has nothing to do with what I experienced for the first time when I arrived home on Friday.

Usually, memories consist of playing in the snow, dancing at the bar, hiking in the mountains, and tubing down the river in the summer.

But on Friday, it was this: absolute quiet. And yesterday, it was absolute quiet. Today... absolute quiet.

Quiet is fantastic. I stepped out of my car, and there was not a single sound. Just silence. No cars on the road, not ambulances roaring by, no people yelling at one another across the street, no bus engines speeding past. No sound.

Except maybe, for red-winged black birds in the trees, and now, the sound of rain dripping from the roof.

Silence is golden.