A Pause
This morning, my anti-lock brakes prevented a crash. It probably wouldn't have caused major injury, but it would have been rather less than pleasant. So I wanted to take a moment and thank all the great mechanical, electrical, and industrial engineers who made everything out of a hundredth of a second this morning.
Thinking about things during that pause, I happened to reflect upon the life of Andrea Culumber, a fellow engineer who died this month six years ago in a car crash. My enduring memory of my friend and colleague is that of her unquenchable zest for life. Whatever she did, she did all out... and she did it all.
I remember one of the people at the wake spoke of the weeks before her unfortunate and untimely passing. She had filled every waking moment of those weeks with activity: camping, hiking, boogie boarding, traveling, and of course contributing to her team at work. The week she died, she had been in Vegas celebrating with family. It made her passing slightly more bearable knowing that she had gotten more out of her brief years than so many others did in three or four times the time.
And it served as inspiration. In her own small way, her passing helped me appreciate life more, and got me to overcome hesitation and doubt... carpe diem. Or Carpe Noctum, as the case may be. These last few weeks, I've been so engaged with life that it's been hard keeping up with things like sleep and rest. I've gotten back into volleyball after a long respite, started golfing again (as badly as I stunk three years ago when I gave that nonsense up). I have been hiking every week at least once, been playing poque with friends every week, go to at least one new restaurant every week with friends, and have been brushing up on my vignt-et-un. I've been reading voraciously on various topics, from classical music conductors to gambling. I've been trying to find the time to start writing a new story, which has been brewing in my head for a while... just need to schedule in some time every day between everything else... in any case, you get the idea. I've been busy, and it feels great. It's been wonderful, but this morning made me pause a bit and remember how sudden, indeed random life can be. It was a lesson hard learned, but I still remember it. I only need to think of one person to bring it all back.
Thanks, Andrea. You still live in the hearts of all those you touched.