Twenty One Years Ago

I was a passenger in a Piper Cherokee six twenty one years ago that crashed onto these frozen lakes in the Sangre De Christos. Those three days in February have just passed this week. The sharp memory of the plane crashing, the cold, and the struggle through the deep snow are present each year at this time. As I sit here this morning and watch the Arkansas River flow past as it has for centuries, that twenty one years is minuscule in time. But we live such a brief period in our human experience compared to the mountain we flew into. I suspect there may not even be any evidence of the crash site up there at Stout lakes anymore. I only went back up there once after the crash. It is steep country to hike up there, which was part of our decision to try and walk out. On the edge of the lake looking down you could see the Arkansas River. It looked like you could just let gravity have it's way and be down in no time. But it wasn't that easy, and the pilot succumbed to hypothermia.
      This was, of course, a life changing event for me in the aftermath. It's psychic hold an influence on my energy and thoughts each year. Philosophically it has left me to think of the reasons for my survival, so little of the three days did I have any control over, yet I didn't freeze. While I did work to not get any colder, we had little to work with and that didn't work for the pilot. It has left me wondering if there is an allotted time to our lives that might part of our entering into this world. It certainly seemed as if it wasn't my time to fade. By the dawn of the third day, when I crawled out from under a rock, literally, I knew I would be able to make it out that day, and ran into the searchers coming in down by the Rainbow Trail.
      The story of this event has been told and published in magazines. I have a powerpoint presentation  that I have given once to a gathering of pilots. But my thoughts today have been on the lasting effect it has had in my life. I am grateful for those twenty one years I have had since those days in 1995. Grateful to have helped raise my children, to welcome nine grandchildren into this world. Grateful for the time I have been given to spend on this river flowing by with friends. I got to play a set with the Salida Brass and Groove Farmers for a Mardi Gras party at the "Vic" on Feb 9th this year, the historical second day after the crash, and was happy to be among friends playing music that night. A friend in the audience on that Tuesday described me as a lucky man and I had to agree with him, just being there and playing music made me grateful.
        In the past twenty one years, I have been involved in a lot in this community that the Arkansas River flows through. I feel appreciation and support from this place I live in and I am grateful for that feeling of home. I have a memory of being welcomed back into my community after the tragedy of those three days. Cared for by my community.
        I can only live one day at a time and as I approach another birthday tomorrow, remember that, yes I am a lucky man.   Will by the River