Rip VanWinkle
First, my cousin Michael, aka Rip, aka Mike, died unexpectedly on Sunday, June 30. Michael and I grew up together and he was like a brother to me. I haven't seen Michael as much as I would have liked over the last few years because I live in the Northeast and he was in Jackson, Tennessee. I only saw him, and his awesome wife and daughters once or twice a year. But I still think of him often and exchange the occasional email, phone call and text messages from time to time throughout the year.
It's been almost two weeks since I got the phone call about Michael and there is still a part of me that is in disbelief. I believe this is due in part to the fact that we only saw each other a couple of times a year. But I know it is going to hit me, as it already had a few times, when I don't receive any more picture emails Rip's cute daughters, or I don't hear his laugh at the next Redneck Shindig.
I love you and miss you. Farwell buddy.
Time Away
After receiving the news about Michael, my wife Melanie and I headed down to Memphis to be with the family. It was a very emotional week, which left Melanie and me both thinking a lot about death. We had a vacation planned for the week of the unfortunate event so we postponed it by one week. This gave Melanie and me time to talk to each other about Michael, death, funerals, family, and so on. But we also enjoyed some time being disconnected from the world.
We went to Acadia National Park on Mount Desert Island in Maine. We stayed at the Bass Harbor campgrounds, which is a great place to stay by the way. We rode bikes through the carriage roads of Acadia, drove up to the summit of Cadillac Mountain, dipped our toes in the frigid ocean waters, took a swim in Echo Lake, ate lobster, and saw amazing sceneries. It was the perfect getaway.
On the drive back home from Acadia we decided to surprise the Davis clan by making a quick visit to Killington, Vermont. Melanie's whole family was there. Seeing them was a great way to end the events of the last two weeks.
We're back in Salem now, which means a return to reality of emails, work travel and more new security changes at airport ports. May be it's time for the whole world to take a vacation, disconnect, and get a fresh to outlook on things. posted by Kirby | 12-Aug-2006 10:30 AM | comments (1)
Very sad news. I found you via numerous web searches. I first heard of Rip's death via the University of Memphis alumni magazine. I pledged KA about the time Rip was leaving, but he was very nice to our group of pledges and made a lasting impression.
This news shocked many of us, as we were never notified through our usual grapevine of info.
If you don't mind, please let me know what happened and what, if anything his wife needs. This holiday season will be especially rough.
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