Monday, August 7, 2006

Is there a plan?


A friends husband died Saturday in a motorcycle accident. He was only 48.

(Don't get me started on the motorcycle thing, I don't understand why anyone who can afford a car dives one. But that's another rant for another day.)

Here is my real problem today. This was a nice guy. Good husband, father and grandfather. And I am not just saying that. You know me by now, it really irritates me that everyone gushes about how great a person is after they are dead when they couldn't stand to look at him while he was alive. This was an actual good guy.

He was the kind of husband that makes you think having a husband might not be such a bad thing if you could find one just like him. I am sure there were times when his wife wanted to strangle him but he was one of the good guys.

They did everything together, they enjoyed the same things, and even worked together. You would think that much togetherness would drive them nuts but they were friends. Good friends. He worked as a tech manager on the other side of the building and we were in customer service on the other.

Practically every night he would deliver her lunch (or coffee it was fuckin' adorable) and sit and chat with us. I was looking forward to having him as a manager over in tech when I finally got there. With all the asshole, useless managers in the building, no one ever had a bad word to say about him.

And he loved that motorcycle, it was adorable to see them arrive at work on it. He would have a big goofy grin on his face as he pulled up. He took every opportunity to ride it and she was always there, riding shotgun.

They absolutely doted on their grandchildren. Saturdays were off limits for anything else but the grandkids. This is where the questions about a higher plan might come in. Something or someone somewhere had a plan. A higher power or unseen entity. Whatever it was, events conspired to take this man on this day.

His other motorcycle buddies knew not to even bother asking him to go riding on Saturdays. You couldn't get either of them to do anything on that day. They had the grandkids and that was it.

I spoke to one of his riding buddies who said they were shocked to hear a message on their machine saying he wanted to go riding. It was a beautiful day and his wife was taking the kids to the beach and for whatever reason, he decided he would not go with her. For some reason, he was on the road, far from home.

Now they are not sure if he lost control of the bike or if he might have had a heart attack. They will find that out after the autopsy today. Witnesses are giving conflicting reports, some say he just drove off the road.

So, here is the thing. What if it turns out it was a heart attack? What if, this was his day no matter what he did?

If he had stayed true to form, like every other Saturday he would have been at the beach with his wife and his grandkids when his number came up. They would have had to witness it, helpless to do anything about it.

Perhaps the 'plan' was to let him go out doing something he enjoyed. One last hurrah?

I suppose as plans go, it wasn't a bad one.

But, why is it that nice guys get taken and assholes are still walking the earth breathin' my air?

Update.


The autopsy showed no signs of heart attack. However, eye witness accounts suggest that he may have blacked out, possibly from arrhythmia and went off the road and flipped his bike, he died from a broken neck.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

so we have people to be in awe of perhaps...

Anonymous said...

Master plan....

.. when your numbers up.. it's up.

Unknown said...

I'm sorry to hear this.

Jack Shaft said...

I didn't know him but your story made me wish i did. You are a good writer. keep it up.
Jack