My sister in law and brother in law retired about four years ago. Three years ago they bought a large fifth wheel and pick-up to match and decided to spend the winters in Arizona. They stayed in a park and developed friendships with a number of the people there. They would be there six or seven months and then come back to Michigan for the summer. Toward the time to leave they would start to get excited about getting back there.
One of the things they would all do together would be playing in the desert with their side by sides. They would go out exploring, maybe have a campfire at the end of the day.
On Wednesday, I was on my way home from our cabin and decided to give Rob a call, he used to call me on his way home from work, just to pass the time while driving. We are more like brothers than anything else. The call was nothing special, we talked about guns, home repairs, politics, and he mentioned that he and some of the guys in the group were going to trailer some of their rigs over to California and go cruising on some sand dunes, he was excited to go.
This morning I got a text from my sister in law asking that I have my wife call her. I actually thought it was about their Dad. When my wife called me she told me that Rob had died. He was in an accident in the sand. Apparently they went end over end on a dune. I don't really have the details yet.
I may be going out to drive the fifth wheel back, don't know yet. This is just starting to sink in. Like I said we are more like brothers than anything else. We also share many things, same birthday two years apart, married sisters that were both born in December, our wives had their first born sons both in December, (he has two other boys from a previous marriage) second sons both born in Febuary. etc.
I am really happy that we had that little fifteen minute conversation on Tuesday, it's going to have to last for awhile. I hope you all will keep this in mind when you talk to family and friends. We never think it will be the last itme but you never know.
Thanks again for giving us a place to reflect or vent or whatever we need to do. I don't post a lot but I am here every day.
"It did not really matter what we expected from life, but rather what life expected from us. We needed to stop asking about the meaning of life, and instead to think of ourselves as those who were being questioned by life – daily and hourly. Our answer must consist not in talk and meditation, but in right action and in right conduct. Life ultimately means taking the responsibility to find the right answer to its problems and to fulfill the tasks which it constantly sets for each individual." Viktor Frankl, Man's Search for Meaning, 1946.
Posts: 20312 | Location: The Free State of Arizona - Ditat Deus | Registered: March 24, 2011
"If you’re a leader, you lead the way. Not just on the easy ones; you take the tough ones too…” – MAJ Richard D. Winters (1918-2011), E Company, 2nd Battalion, 506th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 101st Airborne "Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil... Therefore, as tongues of fire lick up straw and as dry grass sinks down in the flames, so their roots will decay and their flowers blow away like dust; for they have rejected the law of the Lord Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel." - Isaiah 5:20,24
"Common sense is wisdom with its sleeves rolled up." -Kyle Farnsworth "Freedom of Speech does not guarantee freedom from consequences." -Mike Rowe "Democracies aren't overthrown, they're given away." -George Lucas
Posts: 6880 | Location: IL, due south of the Arch | Registered: April 20, 2005
