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Last May my mom died three days before I was to go visit her for Mother's Day. She'd been fighting lung cancer for a year. When I returned home after her funeral, I felt very sad and alone. My good friend David was one of the few people to reach out. He brought over a ridiculous amount of homemade Thai food - he'd recently returned from a year backpacking around the world, and ever since his return I'd enjoyed the rewards of his cooking classes in Thailand.
Six weeks after mom died I fratured my back on Oh Be Joyful creek. Not only did my back hurt, but the injury slowed me down enough to realize that I - all of me - hurt. The day after my accident, there was David, this time cooking up a homemade meal at my house. It sure feels good to be taken care of during these hard times.
This morning I learned that David was caught in an avalanche on sunday while backcountry skiing. Without TV or newspaper, I'm out of the loop and hadn't heard the news stories. He was buried after being swept over 1000 feet downslope, and wasn't breathing when they dug him out, though he was resuscitated. He is on a ventilator with C6-C7 spinal injury, and his prognosis is unclear.
David is not a boater. However, he is the most avid rock climber I've ever met. The recurring theme in our relationship (other than food) has been trying to lure each other into our respective sports. In the process, we've had some neat discussions about systems for rating rivers and routes, how to compete and keep it real, gear, and our sport's communities. We share an innate need to unite with the natural elements. We started telemarking together several years ago, and have had some great ski days together.
Not too long ago I was having dinner with David and some of his climbing friends. They were talking about the web forum "climbingboulder.com" and asked if there was a similar site for kayaking. I said, "Oh yeah, mountainbuzz!" David looked surprised and said "mountainbuns" ??? We all cracked up and agreed that would make a great handle.
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I've spent a lot of time since my boating accident thinking about risks and about how quickly things go wrong, even when you are prepared and conservative. I know, accidents happen. But sometimes in our quest to really live, we fail, and are left wondering "what if" and "why?" I've also learned much in the past year about reaching out to people who hurt - not being afraid to say you don't know what to do or say, but that you are there. And how crucial it is to let those you love know it, opening your heart every single day, even if it's in the form of 30 pounds of red curry and sticky rice.
Thanks for being the good people that I've told David all about. Please be careful out there - skiing, boating, whatever. I'll sign off with this, which is the first thing on David's home page...
"Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1899.
Claire
Six weeks after mom died I fratured my back on Oh Be Joyful creek. Not only did my back hurt, but the injury slowed me down enough to realize that I - all of me - hurt. The day after my accident, there was David, this time cooking up a homemade meal at my house. It sure feels good to be taken care of during these hard times.
This morning I learned that David was caught in an avalanche on sunday while backcountry skiing. Without TV or newspaper, I'm out of the loop and hadn't heard the news stories. He was buried after being swept over 1000 feet downslope, and wasn't breathing when they dug him out, though he was resuscitated. He is on a ventilator with C6-C7 spinal injury, and his prognosis is unclear.
David is not a boater. However, he is the most avid rock climber I've ever met. The recurring theme in our relationship (other than food) has been trying to lure each other into our respective sports. In the process, we've had some neat discussions about systems for rating rivers and routes, how to compete and keep it real, gear, and our sport's communities. We share an innate need to unite with the natural elements. We started telemarking together several years ago, and have had some great ski days together.
Not too long ago I was having dinner with David and some of his climbing friends. They were talking about the web forum "climbingboulder.com" and asked if there was a similar site for kayaking. I said, "Oh yeah, mountainbuzz!" David looked surprised and said "mountainbuns" ??? We all cracked up and agreed that would make a great handle.
---
I've spent a lot of time since my boating accident thinking about risks and about how quickly things go wrong, even when you are prepared and conservative. I know, accidents happen. But sometimes in our quest to really live, we fail, and are left wondering "what if" and "why?" I've also learned much in the past year about reaching out to people who hurt - not being afraid to say you don't know what to do or say, but that you are there. And how crucial it is to let those you love know it, opening your heart every single day, even if it's in the form of 30 pounds of red curry and sticky rice.
Thanks for being the good people that I've told David all about. Please be careful out there - skiing, boating, whatever. I'll sign off with this, which is the first thing on David's home page...
"Far better to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows not victory, nor defeat." -- Theodore Roosevelt, 1899.
Claire