I just got some bad news over the weekend. An incredibly kind person passed away. She was 94. I knew her and her husband 15 years ago in a tiny ghost town called Kilgore, Idaho.
It was January, and according to the locals, the worst winter anyone could remember. It was 30 below zero every morning when we went to work, and on good days it got to minus 10. There was 10 feet of snow on the ground. Some mornings we had to use the truck exhaust to warm up the snow machines so they would start. The job we were doing was crazy. We tried to convince our client to hold off, but to no avail. We shouldn't have been there.
But we were. We were all pretty tough guys. We'd spent a lot of time in the elements and had the right gear for the weather. But nothing can prepare you for that grind of working 15 days straight in those conditions. I didn't see the sun until the day we left and went home. All of us had frostbite. Pulled ribs, blown out knees, bad backs. We were either breaking trail, or we were trying to snowshoe through rugged country. Our bodies eventually had to give out.
The one bright spot in this adventure was that the two year round inhabitants of Kilgore took us under their wing. An older couple who had lived and ranched in that valley for many years. Their daughter lived one town over. We got to know them all, even most of the people in the next town over. They thought we were crazy. And talk of crazy people spreads pretty quickly.
Those two showed us a kindness that seems to be disapearing today. They took us in, looked out for us, and did their best to make sure we survived. The didn't have to, but they were from a different era. A different place in time and space. I truly believe that we would never have been successful without them. They always had a pot of coffee in the morning for us while we got ready. They would call the road department to pull us out of the ditch if we didn't arrive by a certain time. They made sure we all made it out of the back country every day. They did their absolute best to help us nurse our wounds.
We knew they were beautiful souls, and that we were lucky to have that brief time with them. Their kindness made us better, and made us want to be better.
He died of an accidental gun discharge on the ranch he loved. We went to his funeral.
She died this last weekend of natural causes in the next town over. With her daughter next to her. I won't be able to go to hers.
Enough time has passed that my heart isn't broken, but I do feel a deep sadness. They were extraordinary people, and my life has been better for knowing them. Even for that short of a time.
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