Puppies and Race Cars

Sunday is the day reserved for our family.  The week is crazy, but we find some place quiet, some place were we can reconnect together. Near my house is a canyon that is blocked off from cars - safe for the dogs to run off leash when other dogs aren't around.

Today I spent our walk stuck in reflection. My kids chatted with each other and my husband, but I was quiet - thinking - stuck in my own head.

My husband and I have been married for a while now.  One thing that has always been true about us is I've always had a small pack of dogs following me around, and he's found a reason to drag race whatever he was driving at the time.

Early on in our marriage we saw the first in the Fast and the Furious franchise with all our drag racing buddies. Every couple years there was another one, and I'll be honest - as much as I love being out in nature,  Friday night drags always have been big part of our life.  I'd bring a dog, and watch my husband race his baby, while I sat next to mine. Those movies felt like extensions of that experience - all our friends meeting at the theater with their loud little race cars.


Yesterday, when I heard that the Buster, Paul Walker, had passed, I was so sad.  At first I couldnt understand why I was so impacted.  I'm not into celebrity gossip, and while a celebrity crisis can seem like such a big deal to the public - they are just people with the same problems of everyone else.  Theirs is just more public than the rest of us, plastered all over the tabloids.

Life is too short to get wrapped up in a stranger's problems, so I've never got into that.  But this tragic death felt very different for me.

With this death, it feels like a piece of my marriage, my history, passed with him.  Sure, I can throw on a DVD and watch it again and again, and the drags are still there with the smell of melted rubber every Friday night. But, it's just not the same, knowing that that guy with that sweet, genuine smile isn't around anymore.

I didn't know the guy, but he seemed like such a nice guy.  He was active in his charity, and he loved dogs. Anyone who loves dogs has a special place in my heart.

This morning in the canyon, I couldn't help but wonder what the world will miss out on, now that Mr. Walker is gone.  Frank and the labs happily romped with the boys, and I felt so lucky to have them, to watch them play.  I couldn't help but think of Mr. Walker's family, and how a Thanksgiving passed for them, blissfully unaware that the end was so near. I hope that his family is comforted with that memory at this time.  I hope that his legacy of kindness lives on. RIP Paul Walker.