Living on the Brink of God Knows What
photo courtesy of Fred's wife Saundra
My friend Fred died last Friday evening. We had gone to high school together and gotten reacquainted through Facebook. I always enjoyed reading Fred’s updates; he was funny, had wide-ranging interests, and was a family man in the best sense of the phrase. He was a cyclist, runner, competitive triathlete, a husband and the father of two children. On the last night of his life he went out for a run and died of cardiac arrest, at 43 years of age.
In the face of death I feel like a child. I cannot understand it. It is huge, and confusing and awful. Over the course of the last week my mind has returned again and again to the suddenness of Fred’s death. I imagine he thought that night would be like any night. His wife thought he would come home from his run, like…
