Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Heal quickly, my brother...

Fate is cruel sometimes.

CVO broke his leg in three places last night on the tail end of the MWC ride. He tells the story well on his blog, but long story short, he was walking his bike on some dirt when the dirt gave way, he went down, his bike went down on him and now he's got two breaks in his tibia (the front bone on his lower leg) and one break on the fibula.

Also making a guest appearance last night was our late friend Tony Naikelis. He made his presence known to me several times during the ride, most distinctly as I entered and left the park (between the first bridge and the pioneers blvd. parking lot).

As I rode out of the park, I realized that for the first time in four years, I'd missed the anniversary of Tony's passing. It was this past August 11, and I suppose it'd be easy for a human to be mad about missing an important calendar-based milestone like that, but not Tony. All I felt was love.

I felt at times like I wasn't riding like myself last night. I was somehow more aggressive, more "caution to the wind" -- just like the way Tony rode when he was on Earth.

So I guess last night's ride ended up being a bittersweet irony -- and this morning I almost feel guilty for my time with Tony last night, especially after the unfortunate turn of events for CVO.

Heal quickly CVO!!

3 comments:

cvo said...

never feal guilty about spending time with buddies from the past, you never know when that will happen again

and you'll see me very soon.

MG said...

thanks my brother. i've been thinking about you all-day while traveling to missouri for this writers conference.

you're right -- we'll see eachother soon. if tony had known you well, i know you'd have been one of his favorite people -- you're already a favorite of a lot of people here on earth!

thanks again cvo. i'll see you soon.
mg

MG said...

THANK YOU for your message Thea! I can't believe how small the world seems to me right now...

Your brother Tony came to be one of my best friends before he passed away. He was one of the few people I could talk about absolutely anything with -- no topic was off-limits. Friends like that don't come around very often, and I still shed tears regularly when I think of how much I miss my friend. My wife Laura has witnessed it several times.

But then I have the times when I know without a doubt that Tony is present with me, and it's at those moments that I thank God for being able to allow his spirit into me.

We definitely need to remember to do a memorial ride next year. I'll blog the date/time of it when it comes around, but I already have a reminder on my calendar about it. We'll get it done.

Thanks again for your message Thea.
:-}
mg