Krits, Mark, sunrises, and struggles…

This morning Krits and I departed the Phonecian in the dark. We ducked onto the golf course to take the short cut to the Camelback Mountain trailhead (her idea). As we made our way up the mountain, we stopped at the first significant switchback to take a picture with the sun peeking up over the eastern sky. It was 48 degrees and we were both working up a light sweat. We loved every minute of it as we hiked it to the top again. Krits kept going. No big deal until you recall Krits context. You see, Krits was walking out of her “health club” less than three weeks ago when a distracted driver mowed her over in the parking lot. Yes, our baby girl was hit by a car on December 29th. She didn’t break anything but was bruised and battered a bit especially on her knees. She can’t lunge yet, something about the backward motion doesn’t work, but she can hike and hike it well.

However, she is human and on the way down she complained a bit about how many times she’s been injured through no fault of her own. Nothing wrong with her perspective. She’s right. She has had some bad breaks in this world, as I’m sure you have too. All I said back to her were two words – Mark McCloskey. Mark is my cycling buddy who was struck down with transverse myelitis a handful of years back. He was one of the strongest men I’ve ever known. Out of nowhere, his body turned on him and landed him in a coma for 3 weeks and left him nearly dead. The doc’s said he would never walk again and was lucky to be alive. Within 6 months he was walking with a cane. Soon thereafter he was riding a bike, slowly. Last year he began to ride a hand cycle because his lower body still lacks feeling but he can pedal like a banchee with his big arms. He was tooling around our neighborhood, minding his own business, when a distracted driver ran him over. Literally. The car crushed his bike and his already wounded body. He broke 14 ribs (I didn’t know we had that many), collapsed a lung, broke his femur, arm, back, and just missed paralyzing him.

The doc’s again told him he was done and lucky to be alive. He’s had more surgery but he’s back moving again. He is up and walking and driving and taking care of animals. He’s the vet, you know.

Enjoy the sunrise. Enjoy the climb. Embrace the struggle. Keep working. Smile through whatever’s in front of you. And, grab hold of a hand, give it a squeeze, and encourage another to do likewise. It was a great morning, Krits. Can’t wait for the next. Sunrises and struggles. Good…