Heading north-east on Kennesaw, make a left onto Armstrong Mill. Go up the road past the farms, over that narrow bridge to Delong. Make a right. Enjoy Delong. The rolling hills, beautiful views, horses, trees, the wind in your face, the challenge of the ride until you get to Walnut Hill. Hang a left. The beauty continues. At the corner of Shelby Lane, hang a right or just keep going on Walnut Hill. The former brings you to Jacks Creek which then gets you to Old Richmond, the latter to Old Richmond. Whatever your choice, head north on Old Richmond and soon you’ll see Delong. The circuit is almost complete.
I love riding this route on my bicycle. Challenging ride but beautiful. Broken only by the cars and trucks that whisk by, sometimes dangerously close, sometimes close enough to end your life.
David Cassidy wasn’t on the route I love to cycle. He was riding in another part of town but he faced the same dangers that every cyclist who loves riding on the street faces. This past weekend, he was killed while doing something he loved – cycling.
He wasn’t a friend. He was a colleague and a very good and helpful cardiologist. On the occasions we met in the dining room at St Joe’s at lunch time, we talked about riding. He knew the coolest routes.
I didn’t know him well at all. However, this strange ether in which we all humans swim has the uncanny ability to reverberate with the experiences of others. And those reverberations forces one to pause and look around. Sometimes they redirect you. Sometimes they puts things in perspective. Other times, they makes you ask questions. Questions like “Why?’ Then are the occasions where realization hits, like, “It could have been me!”
In an instant, David was killed doing something he loved to do and had done tens of times. In an instant, his life was no more. And it could have been me. It could have been anyone of us who loves to ride our bicycles.
Matter of fact, for all of us, life could end in an instant. Poof! Just like that.
All day, I have lamented about this – what does this life mean if it is just like a “candle in the wind”?
Then it hit me – we cannot change that! It is what it is! What we need to do is make each day count. Live each day like that is the day the flame will go out.
Kiss your spouse with passion, hug your kids till they gasp, enjoy that steak with gusto, make love like it’s the first time, call your parents, have dinner with your brother, smile at that stranger, sing, dance, cry….make the day count. For life is “… even a vapor that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away”.
Dr David Cassidy, rest in peace.