This morning I wrote about “getting out of the kitchen”; enjoying who you were toiling over rather than what you were going to serve people.  It was about engaging in the world around you instead of paying unneccesary attention to the little things that seem important.

Well, I just got home from a memorial service.  Murray McDonough passed away last week.  He was my age; way to young to be thinking about the end of life.  He was doing something he loved–mountain biking.  He had a fall and broke a vertebrae.

I met Murray a while bike when he sought me out professionally for a sport related injury.  I looked at him with a professional eye, formulated a professional plan of attack, and went to work.   A funny thing happened on the way to “work”.  Once I started working on him I got the sense he was a completely peaceful man.  There was just something about him that you had to love…adore, or envy, or something.  I just wanted to know more about him and what made him tick. 

But when you start “seeing” someone with professional eyes, it’s difficult (and very often unethical) to look at them any other way.  I hesitated to ask too many questions.  I didn’t get to know him. 

Someone had put together a photo montage of Murray that was just fabulous.  My lesson of the day was in the forefront; be fully engaged in all you do and truly enjoy what you are doing.  There were a great number of photographs of Murray simply enjoying his surroundings.  He was captured looking directly into the eyes of a small child while pushing them on a swing.  Photos of grand landscapes were taken and Murray would be a mere sidenote, looking out over the ocean or mountain or canyon.  Countless photos of him enjoying family, playing on the beach, involved in activities and sport.

I will have less “Martha moments”.  I’ll enjoy climbing instead of reaching the top.  I’ll enjoy racing instead of crossing the finish line.  I’ll enjoy the vacation instead merely overscheduling the time.  When I find a good passage in a book I’ll stop reading and rest on the word. 

And I’ll enjoy my friends, clients, and random visitors a little more.

Rest in peace, Murray McDonough.

 Someday I’ll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me.  Where troubles melt like lemon drops, high above the chimney tops that’s where you’ll find me! Somewhere over the rainbow skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare to dream really do come true.