50th Birthday

As Julie said in her Facebook post this morning, we should be celebrating Leigh’s 50th birthday today. What an affair that would be! I expect that between family (Coopers, Wallaces, Dickerts, Martins), friends, former runners, and educators there would be at least 100 people gathering on Cooper Ridge. And, of course, Leigh would be the last person there.

On my walk today I thought about Leigh, as I do every day. I thought of how up until the day she first went to the ER she was the happiest person I knew. Not so much because things were going great for her, but in spite of whatever negative there might have been in her life, and she certainly had dealt with some negative in the 43 years she lived. Nothing could stop her; nothing could slow her down; or so it seemed until it did. I thought of her laughter, even at hearing the same story for the fifth time. I thought of how the room seemed to light up whenever she walked in, no matter where it was. I thought of how she loved to dance with her brother, Graig, at her sisters’ weddings, or her cousins’ weddings. I thought of the times at Watauga High basketball games when if the student body wasn’t making enough noise, she would stand up and start leading cheers. I thought of how she could run like no other female I ever saw run, so powerful yet so fluid.

I thought of the times I used to run with her, or rather she ran with me. She started running with me when we were in Puerto Rico and continued through our time at Fort Leavenworth. Those were her pre-high school and high school days. Those were the days when she had to push it to keep up with me, as I was at my peak as a runner then. When we were at Fort Leavenworth, I raced about once a month, mostly 10 K’s. Every six weeks we would have a school race at the course I taught, and I also ran a few races in Kansas City. I was very competitive at that time, never losing in my age group in the races on Fort Leavenworth. I ran in a relay race from Fort Leavenworth to Fort Riley, about 140 miles, and my team won. I was by far the oldest guy on the team. I like to think that was when Leigh learned to run fast – to push herself to her limits. If she thought I was slowing down for her benefit, even when she was in 7th and 8th grade, she would get on me. “Don’t slow down for me, Dad. I’ll keep up with you.” Then, of course, after the horrible events of 1989, when she seemed to have gotten the notion that she had no limits, I quit running with her. I could no longer keep up with her.

And finally, I thought of all the people who were devastated by her loss. The 3,000 people who showed up for her visitation and memorial service are only a fraction of the number who were impacted by her life. I sure miss you girl.