So today I went to visit my friend Craig. He and I work together, and I’ve known him now for a little more than two years. He’s one of those genuinely nice people–the kind of person you wish you could be when all you can think about is how much you want to kick the cat (figure of speech–no cats were harmed in the making of this Annie).
His wife, Heidi, is a superb baker–she made me a seven-layer lemon frosted cake for my birthday this past spring that was incredible. Not only was it a feat of engineering (no joke–the damned thing was more than ten inches tall!), it also tasted…sublime. And she too is one of those incredibly nice people.
Ten days ago, Heidi died in her sleep. She was only 40 years old. That’s a year and a half older than me. That’s all. She and Craig had been married for three years–their anniversary and her birthday were just on August 9th. Heidi was Craig’s first wife’s best friend–Belinda died during emergency brain surgery five years ago. So Craig now has lost two wives in the last five years. He says it all has a weird familiarity to it because it wasn’t that long ago that he had to deal with losing Belinda.
I’ve been lucky to be with Eric now for a little more than thirteen years–and what happened to Craig just reminds me all over again just how fragile our lives are. Eric’s accident two years ago was the first real taste either of us had ever had of something bad happening to us–and all things being equal, Eric’s accident wasn’t that bad. All he lost was an eye. It could have been a whole lot worse. And so I’ve been praying a lot lately–meditating and considering what is truly important in my life. I’d like to think that I don’t really believe in God–on an intellectual level, I struggle with the existence of God and the whole organized religion thing. But on an emotional level, I need to believe that somehow there’s someone looking our for me, my family, my friends, and the world. It’s very hard to put these thoughts into words–but I guess I just wanted to let you all know that one of the things I thank God for is to have met all of you…from SpinList to SheepThrills, and finally to the FiberUniverse. (cue appropriately sappy music)
OK. Time to make dinner. Lighter post tomorrow or the next day, promise.
