June 11: Damsel in distress

This past Saturday morning I registered Darcy for next fall's swimming lessons at 8 a.m. Then I ran to my meeting for Arts Morin Heights (more on that in a future post) and even though I left the meeting early, I just barely made it to a funeral for a friend.

Spike was more my mom's friend, than mine, but he always took time to speak to me. The last time I saw him was on Darcy's 2nd birthday. Johanne needed some prestone in her car, which was parked across the street. When Spike happened to be driving by and saw a woman holding a baby on the side of the road with her hood up, he stopped to help the "damsel in distress" only to find Kevin already under the hood. Well, next thing we knew Johanne was safely on her way and Spike was chatting away with my mom and just about everyone. What a kind soul to have stopped to help a stranger - but that was Spike!

Kevin knew Mark, AKA Spike, on his own - not via my mom or me. They shared "the Jeep thing"; Spike always saying, "I understand," whenever he saw Kevin, referring to the moto "It's a Jeep thing...you wouldn't understand."


Spike's 17 year old daughter played the song "Drive" by Alan Jackson at the funeral. It's very fitting for a truck driver, Daddy, Jeep owner...


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQe3DKDQRRs

The song reminds me a lot of my Dad and me, too. He taught me to drive a boat and I had my first driving lesson at 9 years old in his Ford pick-up. I can see Kevin teaching Cameron and Darcy to drive in a Jeep in less time than I'd like to imagine, too!  I wasn't at the funeral when the song was played, as I had to get Darcy home, but it's probably a good thing.

But before I left, a golf ball was passed around to every person there, and there were many, to hold and think a good thought of Spike. The golf ball, filled with memories from his friends and family, was given to Spike's daughter to pitch with every ounce of her strength into the middle of the lake. When it was my turn, I held the ball with Darcy and thought of her birthday, and Johanne and Sofia, and Mark stopping to help. As I passed the ball to Kevin we both whispered, "Damsel in distress..."