lessons from deaththe whole experience surrounding the death of
john maxwell
and the memorial ride and events flowing therefrom
provided many priceless opportunities for
reflection and observation
that just don't happen otherwise:
1--cyclists really are a great peer group;
2--it doesn't matter the weather, racers WILL ride;
3--that the sight of a family member shooting pictures
from her cell phone as a bunch of cyclists she'll never really know
ride by, tears flowing endlessly, will trigger a similar reaction
in even the hardest hearted of people,
and create a lump that won't go away for hours,
or even days, it seems;
4--motorpacing behind a loaded hearse is as wierd as
one might think it is [and one might think it is very wierd];
5--all cemeteries should be in the country, on gravel roads;
6--chris maharry likes to ride really fast,
although he can be made to go slower;
7--chris and i share the same tolerance for
evangelical funeral services,
AND the same need for fresh air;
8--i'm not nearly "charismatic" enough,
nor do i love enough the sound of my own singing voice;
9--i'm going to take televangelist lessons;
10--i still love the smell of church funeral food; and
11--if i lose four more pounds, i'll weigh the same as chris.
oh, and 121--channel 5 referred to the ride
as "memorial race"--and i won the graveyard "sprint."
[i'm assuming my subsequent mishap is a karmic adjustment.]
2 comments:
Yeah Kim, a guy died and you are excited about motorpacing his hearse? Was it a memorial ride for him or was it about you? Congrats on that sprint, the mother of all hollow victories.
while i truly appreciate your concern, on the ride there was a real, palpable tension, as evidenced by the presence of a family member taking photos as we rolled by the site of the collision. tears were streaming down her face as we rode by, and i think all of us broke into tears. there were many light-hearted moments at the funeral, too, such as when the minister began the service, and made the statement " . . .if john were here he'd..." and then they paused, because they'd started the service before they rolled the coffin in.
there were lots of truly bittersweet moments, and although known of us knew him, by the time chris and i rolled into the cemetery virtually side by side, i felt that i knew enough about him that he would enjoy the irony of us following his hearse, trying to capture ALL of the emotions of the day. his wife, brother-in-law, and countless others in attendance gave all of us special words. the tears among the cyclists in attendance were nearly as abumdant as those from the rest of john's friends and family.
it clearly was not about me; it was about cyclists coming together. the comment about the "sprint" was just a little aside i made to chris.
but your pointing this out reminds me of a couple things i forgot to mention in the original post. time to edit.
thanks, steve, for the post. it's a legitimate question. i hope i clarified it for you.
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