July 25.
I said I would stay away from personal stories. I’ve mostly done that, but today I’ve had a hard time not thinking about two women I loved. To honor them, I think of them: Bess and Claire. On this day, July 25 of 2013, a little before 5 pm Kenya time, my wife, Claire, and her daughter, Bess, were returning from northern Laikipia to Niarobi in a small plane, a private charter. They were finishing a mother/daughter celebration for Bess’ college graduation. They encountered severe weather crossing the Aberdare Mountains, only an hour outside Niarobi. The pilot lost sight of the ground. He turned the plane the wrong direction, flying into the mountain. Because of high winds, and terrible rains, they were not found for three days. During those unknown days, I imagined all the ways they could have had a close call.
When I arrived in Niarobi, a young helicopter pilot sought me out. He said he would fly me to the crash site, if I wanted. He said it might provide some closure to see the last place on earth they touched…. he’d been part of the rescue that recovered their bodies.
When we landed on the mountainside, I walked under a grey sky toward the plane. Oddly, the plane faced downhill. The pilot said that was because the plane had flipped when it hit the mountain. Among the twisted metal and plastic wreckage I found many of their belongings, including several bottles of dark honey. He said not to touch anything. It was a crash site. I said, I would retrieve their belongings. What I could not touch was Claire’s computer bent back on itself as if it were a piece of wet clay.
For a long time I just stood there watching the twisted remains, hoping by sheer will to change the outcome. The time staring at the wreckage is the most profound silence I have ever experienced. A week before, at our home in Utah, getting ready to join them for an August holiday in Greece, I received a text from Claire early, at 7:10 am. I smiled to read it. It was pure Claire. It took a week to realize she had sent the text ten minutes before the crash.
I feel free. I feel close to god, and there are angels all around me.
