Here are a few shots from the Apostle Islands days. I'll explain in a bit why I don't quite have the heart to give each day its full due, even though I had a fantastic tribute to Rowdy Roddy Piper planned and everything.
After 2 fantastic days exploring the Apostle Island area, we moved on to the Keweenaw Peninsula and Copper Harbor. Our site in the Ft Wilkins State Park served as the perfect spot to go explore the point in our first real Jeep side trip in a long time.
We got back to the site around 7pm, so I did a quick recon ride to check out the trailhead and squeeze in a few miles on the famed Copper Harbor mountain bike trails.
OK, if you read this blog for the travel sights & pictures, you can probably stop here. I've always written this blog about and for our family, and today something happened that changed our trip and our lives, especially mine. I'm going to take this space to put virtual pen to paper while the emotions of the past 12hrs are raw and exposed. Call it cathartic, selfish, therapeutic, whatever you want.
Today the world lost a great man in Marvin Jay Beute, my father. I was set to go ride the trails, and since we had no cell service or internet, it was to be an uninterrupted day. During the night, a rainstorm came that delayed my riding plans, so on a whim I took the Jeep into town to see if I could find a wireless signal. I did, and a series of more than 20 texts came pouring in, mostly group texts about general nonsense. One caught my eye, from my brother, that I will never forget.
During a brief few moments, my heart sank as I watched the 3 little bubbles on my phone, waiting for the confirmation I knew was coming. My father had succumbed to a years long battle with Parkinson's disease just an hour earlier, and I was just now getting the news.
In the frantic next 30 minutes, I broke the news to my family, packed up the site in a daze, and while waiting in line for the RV dump station ahead of the 12hr drive home, had the following exchange with my 7 year old daughter Jordan.
J - "Dad, I know you miss Papa B (tears are streaming down my face as I try to keep it together), but aren't you glad you'll still get to do your most favorite thing ever that he taught you?"
Me - "What's my most favorite thing?" (this exchange is not helping to slow the tears)
J - "You know, to fix stuff. And, aren't you glad he'll get to see Grandma B? (who she's never met due to cancer taking her 16 years ago) I wish I'd met her. You said she loved kids." (still not helping with the tears).
Then she just reached out, gave me a quick hug and said "I miss him too. I'll write you a note so when you miss him you can just read it and it will help you."
I could tell my wife Kimberly had talked with her, but not until later did I find out that the 'fixing stuff' and the note were all her ideas.
At this point I realized they were helping to fix me. I know the Lord works in mysterious ways, and although I don't understand this one, I can accept it.
I owe a lot of things to my father, so while it's fresh I'm going to say a few words about the most honest, hard working, selfless, intelligent man I've ever known.
Thank you for teaching me that if it's worth doing, it's worth doing right. That even though it's almost always a little bit harder, it is possible to accomplish difficult tasks AND care for people. Thank you for teaching the value of a hard day's work, and that no matter how hopeless or broken, anything can be fixed.
He set an example of these teachings every day of his 72 years on this earth and through everyone he came across during that time. For that I am grateful. What he didn't teach me was how to fix the void he is leaving in this world. I will miss him immeasurably.
No comments:
Post a Comment