For Auggie
When I think of all the ways I’ve spent free time in my life, three pursuits top all the others. That cycling is on the list is no surprise, so we’ll just move along. Writing, which is sometimes work, sometimes just fun, continues to be a way to spend hours by myself without ever being alone. I’ve learned a great deal about the world by tapping on a keyboard. Those revelations keep coming and keep making the time well spent.
The other pursuit is no real surprise either. My family. I don’t get as much time with my son and wife as I’d like, but the hours I spend with them are beyond value.
Were I to be called to give up cycling, I don’t know how I’d manage, but I’m confident that I’d find my way. Life without writing? If it were do or die, I’d do; it’s just that simple. However, if something happened to my family, there really wouldn’t be any point to the other two. Cycling makes my life rich, but a life without my family would have no meaning and cycling alone couldn’t buck up an empty soul. Same for writing. There’s no making sense of the senseless.
It is with that prologue that I write you to say one of our own faces exactly this life. Jon Grant is a cyclist, graphic designer, artist and illustrator. If you’ve ever perused a Rivendell catalog, you’ve seen his work. He does exquisite line illustrations of retro bike parts. He’s a talented guy and has done everything from maps and graphs to icons and stylish art.
Jon had a son, Auggie, who was fighting leukemia until this morning. A friend of Jon’s approached me just Saturday to let me know that he has been helping to sell prints of Jon’s work on his web site. Hospitals can be more expensive than political campaigns. I don’t know what sorts of bills he’s going to see, and it really doesn’t matter. He just lost his son. It’s a scenario I can’t even contemplate, and I pride myself on my imagination.
I’d hoped Jon and Auggie’s story would have a happy ending, that they would do a Pablove ride together someday. This isn’t how it was supposed to go.
You can learn more about Jon’s work and order prints here.
