Sunday, November 23, 2008

Moving On...

I titled this post Moving On... for a reason, a couple of reasons really. To keep with the theme of this blog I'll start with the basics. Lin and I are moving on from the Red, the weather is starting to get increasingly unreliable. The forecast for the next two weeks is rain, snow, and cold. Today was the most perfect day of the trip though. Blue skies, zero clouds, sun, and 50 degrees. Perfect. On Wednesday we're heading for North Carolina to spend Thanksgiving with Lindsay's brother and his family. We're really looking forward to seeing them and to some down time. We have mixed feelings about leaving - we finally feel strong and hard routes are feeling easier and easier. It's time we see new crags, meet new people, and experience new things though.

A couple of nights ago, our dear friend took her own life in back in Lander. We are at a loss for words. A vibrant and beautiful person, she was always smiling and laughing, the first to tell you how happy she was for you in whatever seemed to be going on in your life. It's so hard to know what happened to lead to this outcome. We can only hope that she has found peace wherever she may be. Leslie felt that it was her time to move on to something else, we can only hope it's a better place than where she felt she was. For all of us left behind, we're left with questions that will never be answered, the hardest part of all, knowing full well that we must all move on too.

Life is curious...just about the time we think we have "a good bead on things", we're reminded, sometimes violently, that we don't. Leslie left this world a better place, impacting so many people in so many wonderful ways that words cannot describe. Like my mother always used to say, "be at your station". I never took too much heed of this phrase but I'm starting to grasp it a little firmer nowadays. We must all take advantage of every moment given to us, because in the end, we all have to move on...

In Loving Memory of Leslie Paul - You Will Be Missed

No comments: