What can you say about a guy like Chris???

I've said a lot of stupid things on this blog. This isn't one of them.

My buddy Chris died this morning after a battle for his life that he's been fighting since I met him over 9 years ago. If you've known me for any length of time, you know about him. You may have heard amazing stories about this kid, his love of life and the gift he gave to everyone who knew him. That gift was his heart and he shared it with us every day of his life.

I'd just like to share a conversation that I had with Chris about a year or so ago. I was over at his place hanging out and watching some car race on TV. When that was over, we moved into the dining room and started building some legos that he'd been working on.

We'd been at it for an hour or so when he stopped, looked at me and uttered the only complaint I ever heard him make. He said, "What the heck am I doing? What is a guy my age doing playing with kids toys? I know that it is good for my manual dexterity and that it helps me move and get motor skills back, but I feel so useless doing this."

He looked up at me and I just had a big grin on my face. At first he looked cross with me --- thinking I was making light of his frustrations. Then he got it. I told him that sitting here and building legos with him had nothing to do with manual dextierity or getting any skills back. We were there building legos because we both like building legos. I also added that while it was a bit odd for a 27 year old to be building legos, it is even more odd for a 39 year old to be building legos. And it is REALLY odd that both of us were enjoying it so dang much.

We both laughed and continued building. We both wanted to finish the dang castle so we could sit back and look at it before tearing it all down and starting over with the next kit.

I can't begin to tell you how fortunate that I am to have had those days building legos, racing radio controlled cars, working on real cars, or just hanging out at home or in the hospital talking with Chris.

I can't begin to tell you what a gift it was to have him share his life, his heart and his family with Laura and I.

I can't begin to tell you how happy I am to know that though we're all grieving here today, Chris already understands how much he is cherished and loved by God and all of us. He is and always has been in the care of the Almighty.

Chris had a way of boiling ideas down to their simplest components. His theory on car racing seems to apply to the way he thought we all should lead our lives. "Go really fast on one direction until you get to something, then turn."

Thanks Chris. We had a great ride. We'll take it from here.

Pete