Summer’s Gone, along with another friend

Well, the summer is over and the beautiful changes that represent autumn in Colorado are here. This was an eventful summer including 3 more 14ers (look for more video soon) and a few visits to Crestone, Vegas, and other treks across the state. I did some work in San Diego and Boise too. The last 6 weeks or so saw the business side slow to nothing and I had to get a job. I start Monday at a company called Linx and I’m pretty excited about it. It will mean some big changes because I’ve worked from home for so long. Change is good, but some of it comes hard.

I lost a good friend named Kurt Linn last weekend. He was killed in an off roading accident up in Summit County which is in the area of Breckenridge. He was a close friend and confidant as well as a gifted musician/sonwriter and Singer. Many of us who live out here take advantage of the summer weather to go up and have some fun and there are some of these kinds of mishaps every year. Last year my friend Brad Lowderback was badly hurt and lost his girlfriend Dara doing the same thing. As a matter of fact Brad was hurt in the same area and was up there for the first time since his accident the day Kurt ws killed and was told about the accident without knowing who was involved. Its so strange the way things happen. He knew Kurt too and we had played in a band together a couple of years back. It didn’t last very long but that happens too.

It made me think about friendship. I don’t have too many friends. Kurt did, and Brad does too. There were lots of people at the Funeral and lots who showed up for Brad at the various benefits and visiting the hospital, but there aren’t usually that many who stick around for very long, especially when things get tough. I lost a lot of those friendships when I quit drinking, and that’s a long time ago. The people I know at this point are not that many in number but they are important to me, like Brad. I’m glad he’s Ok. I’m going to miss Kurt.

We need to do a better job of taking care of each other, and ourselves, on every level. I said each other first for a reason. If we are all looking out for each other, than someone is always looking out for us. Some people say you have to take care of number 1. Then if there is anything left for the other guy, thats fine. The thing is we are always harder on ourselves and a little more careless than we are with our friends or family members. Most of us are really better at looking at what our friends are doing than we are at what we may be doing to ourselves. Then we fail to listen to those people we say we care for and respect too. People did try to tell Kurt not to take the chance that took his life, but Kurt was his own man and he figured he knew what he was doing. Sometimes that’s just not the case. Its a shame.

Kurt is gone, and he left a hole. Its going to take time to fill. Sometimes we don’t understand why things happen the way they do. He had just had an accident that broke his leg pretty badly and it sparked some changes in him. He began to think differently about the consequences of his actions and what was important in his life. That is the first sign of someone who is on the path; responsibility. Maybe that was the purpose of Kurt’s life, to find responsibility. He was just really starting to think in different terms and I was happy to see it. That last mistake was a costly one, but we all do things that could lead to a tragedy and most of us get away with it. Whether its driving home drunk, or taking a chance on a ski slope that we look back at and say whoa, or trying to see how high on this ridge my truck can make it. Just stop and think about whether its worth knowing..

Life goes on. I don’t believe in living in a cocoon, just being sensible. You could die anyway and if there is a consciousness that lives on after the body no longer functions, as I believe there is, than I want to be able to look back and say I lived. We don’t know if there is life after death, and I hope its a long time before I find out, but we need to make sure there is life before death. Kurt knew that and he lived it. Its a shame we have to do without him in this world now, but he lived on his own terms while he was here and I don’t think he would change that for 100 extra years. He might second guess that last decision, but it was his.

Sometimes I think my wife is too cautious, and she probably is, but sometimes I take chances I shouldn’t take either. What you are, above all else is a conscious being. If you are consciously going about your life than I think there will be no regrets. Some people are just running on auto pilot and not really living. That might make people more sad when they look back at your life (or when you look back) than having lived a shorter cycle on this planet. 95 years of boredom or 44 years of fun. As long as you do it with purpose as a conscious choice I guess its just a matter of those left behind trying to figure out something they can never understand anyway.

Summers gone and the beginning of the end of another cycle is coming. The trees are crying but soon they will sleep and reawake when the cycle is ready to begin again. Goodbye Kurt. I’m gonna miss you bro.