We’ve all heard tales of Good Samaritans and good deeds, but this happened to me first hand and will tell you all you need to know about the character of Jason Waters.
The day after thanksgiving, my five year-old-daughter woke up with a burning desire to go skiing, answering her Father’s prayers from the night before! She had learned to ski the bottom half of the bunny hill a day earlier and as a skiing father, I was ecstatic to have a powerful excuse for more skiing! Not to mention, we had received another 6 inches of fantastically dry powder in Tahoe overnight. POWDAY with my daughter, here we go!
While our best intentions were for an early start, we met a few obstacles, including a full parking lot at Northstar. I dropped my daughter and the rest of our crew at the Ritz Carlton to give them a head start on rental equipment and tickets. I headed back down the hill to the outer rims of the back parking lot.
After parking, I discovered I had left my jacket back at the house, 25 minutes away. It was noon and we had already reached the high temperature of 16 degrees, a balmy 8 degrees with the wind chill. The top of the hill was colder yet, so this was a key moment, we had already lost a good portion of the day and I was unwilling to loose any more time or momentum with my daughter’s skiing desire.
After a deep breath and a mental commitment to a bone-chilling day, I headed to the shuttle bus. With each passing minute and each burst of wind, my sweater felt less and less sufficient to beat back the winter chill. I had already committed, so I pressed ahead….
After the bus ride, I ran to the gondola, just catching a ride before it launched off the platform. In the gondola were two gentlemen, both realtors who were on their way to preview a few new homes on NorthStar’s mountainside. We struck up a conversation about the weather as all of us were elated with the snowy conditions considering the prior four years of drought. They were both jealous that I was going to hit the slopes as they would both be working the next few days.
It was at this point that I filled them in on my jacket mishap and the confounding issue of not wanting to disappoint my newly elated skiing daughter. Without hesitation Jason offered me his jacket. At first I thought he was kidding, I said, “No I couldn’t.” As the gondola crept closer to it’s final destination, Jason offered again, “Really, take my jacket. I want you to have a good day with your daughter and you can just drop it by the office at the end of the day. I trust you.”
The gondola swayed back and forth with another blast of wind and I agreed to take his jacket. That was the best decision of the day. Four hours later my daughter was skiing green runs, unassisted and has been dreaming about skiing ever since. PRICELESS!
Without the jacket, I would’ve been frozen and miserable, but most important, would have missed an opportunity to help my daughter take the next step in her skiing journey. At the end of the day, we made the journey back to the parking lot, stopping at the Tahoe Mountain Realty office to drop off the jacket. When we walked through the door, Jason’s first question was, “How was your daughters day?”
What’s amazing is Jason had known me for less than a 7 minute gondola ride yet was willing to give me the jacket off his back. I haven’t yet purchased my dream house in Tahoe, however when I do, there’s only one agent I’ll work with, Jason Waters.
Thanks Jason!
Matt Williams
