I’m one to take a drive. It’s one of the things that Micha and I have loved to do together on occasion. Just get in the car and go see what we can see.
That’s what we were doing on an October day 23 years ago. Living around the Monterey peninsula meant a lot of beautiful sights, and a cruise around the tip was always a pleasant way to spend some time.
October 13th was one of those days too. Worth the ride. And as we drove up the coast from Carmel late in the day we got the usual beautiful views. I remember the exact day and what I was doing because as we rounded the tip of the peninsula going east, we came across several network news vehicles – big RVs – parked on the side of the road. No idea what they were doing there, so we continued on.
It was only later that I found out that John Denver had crashed his plane into the ocean just a few hundred meters from the spot only the evening before.
It was a sad day for sure. I’d remembered so much of his music from growing up, and felt a connection from all of our family trips to the mountains around the time he performed some of his best music. He released “Rocky Mountain High” in 1972. More than likely we spent a week or so of that summer in the Rockies.
We all die. Some maybe sooner than we think is necessary. But our lives are in God’s hands, and he takes us from the world exactly when he means to. That doesn’t mean we’ve got to like it. But everyone leaves something behind, and sometimes what they’ve left is beautiful.