Current mood:

Remembering

A Death in the Family
I've been relatively lucky all my life. I've never really known anyone close that has died. I almost feel guilty in a way when I hear about others that have a close loss.

The closest I've had to deal with death was a pet that died when I was 10. Distant relatives have naturally died of old age, relatives I hardly knew and probably only saw once or twice when the family gathered for holidays.

I've mourned the loss of celebrates more, like the race car drivers I grew up watching because I knew them more. I watched them race every Sunday. When you watch someone like this for years, you get to know them through television and they almost start to feel like friends to you, although you've never met them in person.

I've heard about deaths in high school, kids dying from drugs, suicide, and drunk driving accidents, but I never ended up knowing any of them. There was a suicide on my Navy ship once, but I didn't know that person either. I was actually so distant from him that when they needed volunteers to help get his body out of the space it was in, I offered to help because I knew it would be very hard on my fellow shipmates that did know him.

I feel very lucky and very greatful. Really, no one close to me has died for the 27 years I've been around.

Then I recieved a phone call from Burr's mom last night...

When we took our vacation to Lake Havasu and out to the Grand Canyon, we stayed with a couple of his relatives one night that actually lived close to the Southwestern rim of the Grand Canyon. They lived out on some property that took nearly an hour to get to off the main highway. They lived deep in the country and they loved it. Just a modern day cowboy and his wife living the American dream. They were even building a new house on the property. Their house was too small to host everyone that visited, but they let us sleep in the new house which had new state of the art type stuff in it like a heated floor. They were both involved in the construction of the house and the wife was able to put her own personal touches on it. She had some old stained glass windows that they incorporated into the construction of the new house. The view from which was spectacular. You can even see the edge of the Grand Canyon on the horizon...

Unfortunately, the wife died of a major heart attack the other night.

I only spent the night there, but they also joined us for dinner after the grand canyon and hooked up with us for a boat ride on Lake Havasu later on. I remember her clearly. She was getting up there in age, but she didn't show it. She was so full of life, so happy, cheerful, and optimistic. She was very outgoing and caring towards the people she met. This is how I'll always remember her...

As sad as it is to hear that her life ended so soon, when I pictured the two of them finishing the house, growing old and happy together, there is a very cool ending to her life's story. Even in death, she remained a giving person. She was an organ donor and three people's lives were saved with her death. She was such a great person.