Bad Start to 2025

It may turn out to be a great year, but so far (early February) it's been kinda aweful, with lots of loss.
While skiing a Massanutten, VA, a snowboarder made a sudden turn towards his blind spot (right), and slammed right into Pam (left side) as she was just passing him. He broke her leg. Fibula (the smaller bone) broke near (thankfully not at) her knee.  Tibia (the larger, weight-load bone) broke hear (again thankfully not at) her ankle.  It was the last run of a very good day of skiing.  I had pushed her for 1 more run down from the upper Blue trail. A good but easily doable run. And then head out.  I blasted on down, going faster than her, and waited at the bottom.  And waited.  And waited.  Finally I concluded something isn't right, she should have been down by now. Then I got one of those "something bad has happened!" feelings, started pounding my foot every few seconds in worry.  I called her and she answered, telling me she broke her leg. 
Art and Gail (were with us), and were just about to drive off. I forget if I called them or they called me, but on hearing about the break, they came back out and waited with me at the first-aid station at the bottom.  She arrived on ski-tow. I saw her foot was pointing wrong wrt her leg.  It was tough. I was pretty upset.  The first-aid station talked her into letting them take her ski boot off, "trust me, you want us to do it rather than the hospital because we do it all the time and know how best".  The ambulance arrived to take Pam to the hospital.  I was going to have to drive the car and catch up with her, so Pam asked Gail if she would ride in the ambulance with her.  I am so very very very glad she did.  Gail was wonderful, cheering her up, keeping her distracted, etc.  I would not have been so good.  Immense thanks to Gail, as well as Art for their presence and help.
The rest of the Massanutten visit was Pam stuck on crutches with a leg-splint.  Swelling needed to come down before casting, and they said that would take about a week. Well that's how long we were in Massanutten.  We all catered to Pam, enjoyed company and and dining with each other, Art and Gail and went skiing on days 2,3, and 4.  I joined them on day 3, achieving my pre-determined goal for the trip - to ski from the top a few times.  One night Bob and Kris Brockman (Massanutten residents and friends) visited for dinner. 

Once home, Pam was transferred into a formal cast, and on easy-street duty for 8 weeks.  This came with emotional up days and down days.  She is a "go-er", and being stuck on the bed or sofa in a leg cast has been very difficult for her. Fortunately, the bones align very well, so the doctor recommended against surgery (bore-out tibia marrow, insert rod from knee to ankle, bolts at top and bottom). So the wait for healing.  

It was on Sunday, February 2nd.  Pam was yelling out my name at 5am. I was in bed, she had slept on the living room sofa.  She kept saying "Oh No!!" and calling out to me.  I yelled back "what happened?" while I was getting out of bed.  She said that Roger Leeson had died.  

Roger Leeson is the defacto leader of our merry little band of mountain bikers.  Roger (Shrek), along with Larry Dickinson (Trail Yoda), Art Wheeler( Bumble Beer), and Julie McLauren (Blue Print) started up our little MTB group.  And after Larry moved back to Hickory, Roger drove most of the group's coordinations - rides, after socials, camping trips, music festival outings, birthday celebrations, etc.  

Roger was always with a cheery demeanor, and although he could be stubborn in some conversations, he always tried to remain on the happy "let's move on" side.  He frequently doled out cheap toys or little gags to birthday subjects, saying "everybody should be allowed to still be a child".  
Roger met Kelly Marks maybe 5 years ago?  It was good to see him with someone he cared about and who cared about him.  A couple years ago, they moved in together (Wake Forest). 

Roger, Julie, Tracey, and KMac had gotten together Sunday afternoon to watch a Duke .vs. UNC basketball game, a big rivalry around here.  Roger left around 9pm he left to go home.  Kelly reached out to ask when he left because it was 10:45 and he wasn't home yet.  By 11:30, neighbors found him lying in the driveway next to his car.  He had a gash on his head, and was dead.  

Roger is a big guy. 6'+ and full in body, over 200 lbs. He had been a football player in high school.  He was a rugby player in college (after?).  The beatings had taken a toll on his body.  By the time of his fall, he had had hip-replacement surgery, and neck vertebrae fusion surgery. The latter left him with poor balance and stiffness.  A difficult thing for someone his size.  Like a champion, though, he was progressing with bike riding, though only Greenways now.  

News of his death has been shocking and emotionally devastating to us all.  We all have our looser and tighter moments together, but with our comradery and shared experiences of joy, we all love each other very much.  Perhaps no one more (maybe just me) than Roger.  Personally, since I never grew up with a father, and my older brother was 12 years older and often mean spirited with the two little brats pestering him, I found myself drawn to Roger's group-care-taking (plannings, cookings, campings, etc), as something of a bigger brother experience I wish I'd had.  Not to get too deep on it, cause we were Friends.  But part of that affection towards Roger for me has been some sense of man-on-man intimate friendship.  I think I crave this, and I found it some in Roger.  I am so very distraught by his death. 

Random thoughts...

* He earned his Trail-Name, Shrek, on one of our city trek rides he had planned and organized.  Mostly greenways out to a cool pub near downtown Raleigh, with a few stretches on city streets.  At the crossing of a large intersection, Roger got somehow stuck mid crossing. I think he fell.  With the light turned against him, and a few cars approaching, rather than pick up the bike, mount and ride on; he simply found it more expedient to grab the bike by the protruding handlebar, and then drag it the rest of the way through the intersection.  The "Shrek" legend was born. 

* Gathering at Tracey's home, which she would do here and there, Roger enjoyed a bit too much beer or bourbon.  He was quite intoxicated, and hit his 'shut-down' wall.  In going there, he waxed nostalgic about our band of merry misfits, announcing how much he appreciated and loved us all and our group.  He said this as he laid down on the kitchen floor and curled up in a ball.  

* Annual New-Years' traditional dinner gathering - honey ham, black-eyed peas, collard greens.

* UNC fan through his son Connor.  One of my favorite group postings of him is unrolling a light blue UNC banner in front of his chest, while he smiled.  After fully unfurled, he began nodding while maintaining the maniacal smile.

* Camping trips and epic bike rides. 

* 

There have been a number of other sad and death-related events and thoughts this past month or two.  Maybe with Roger's death, they're all so much more noticeable.  It has been a sad and difficult Jan/Feb for us all.