My name is Maria Bojadziev, and I am an avid skier at Whistler with a season ski pass for 32 years.
On Jan. 22, a day we call in Whistler a bluebird day on the mountain, I took, as usual, the Creekside Gondola and on to the Big Red Chair, and then on the Peak Chair to ski.
The scenery at the top was so beautiful that I wanted to take a picture. Oh! My cell phone was missing. Where? I recalled that I left it in the Creekside Gondola.
I was very disturbed but decided that I cannot miss this wonderful weather and went on skiing. By the end of the day, I came back to the upper station of the Creekside Gondola—I simply wanted to inquire if any attendant had found my cell phone.
While approaching the gondola, two beautiful, blue eyes over the face mask looked at me and a young girl with the name Jill (Jillian Lynch) asked me: “Are you Maria?”
I was amazed. How does she know?
I said, “Yes, I am Maria.”
She informed me that my husband would wait for my return at the usual place in the afternoon to take me to our place. My husband is not a skier, but my friends dubbed him as the “shofer” since he drives me back and forth to the Creekside Gondola when I go skiing.
She also said that my phone would be returned to me by my good friends John and Karen [Wood] (they are residents of Whistler) to our place.
How did she know all this? [After all], many skiers and boarder riders are using the gondola. Now is the interesting part. While Jill was holding the phone and wondering how to handle the situation, John left a message on my phone inquiring whereabouts I was skiing. Jill, being not only beautiful but clever, found a way to organize the return of the phone.
I am very thankful to Jill and John and Karen. I wish Jill much success in her career and a happy life. I am lucky that I am a part-time Whistlerite. Whistlerites are amazing folks.
Maria Bojadziev // Whistler
