TOUCHED BY DEATH, RENEWED BY LIFE.
April 8th, 2009Hola Relatives - 39 year old James Shane McConkey, a family friend,
went into the Italian Earth at 120 miles per hour on Thursday March 26th.
He couldn’t get his skis torelease when he did a back-flip off a peak in the
Dolomites while filming a movie.
He went into an upside-down spin where he couldn’t open his chute. He finally
succeeded in releasing his skis, then spread out his wing suit one second before
the impact that took his precious life. He died in full flight, living his integrity
right up to the very last moment.
Shane was a world champion extreme skier who loved life, who loved pushing
the envelope - going for it - to see what was possible. He loved laughter, his family, his
friends. You can learn more about him and read tributes to him at
http://shanemcconkey.org/.
Shane left his dear wife Sherry and little girl Ayla, three years old. Saturday
afternoon a group of us hiked with Sherry to the top of Brockway Summit.
Far below Lake Tahoe shimmered in surreal beauty in the clear sunlit day.
Above only blue sky, a soft wind - the Breath of the Great Spirit. Three
ravens circled nearby. Fifteen of us sat on the rock outcrop taking it
in.
It was a gorgeous place to be alive in. We shared Shane stories. Laughed
and cried together. I led a prayer. We gave thanks for Shane’s life. It was
good to be together sharing the heavy burden of loss and grief.
A large public memorial service was held outdoors Sunday at Squaw Valley
on another gorgeous sun-dazzingly day. Snow covered cliffs, magnificent
in their majesty and beauty, offered silent tribute along with the large crowd there
to pay respects to one of their own. Squaw Valley was Shane’s home base.
Throughout the tender and touching sharing from Shane’s parents, friends and
wife Sherry, a butterfly, symbol of transformation, swooped and darted,
weaving in and out through the crowd. Shane’s spirit was alive and well,
still flying, enjoying his loved ones.
“When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your
eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there you will always long
to return.” - Leonardo da Vinci
Monday morning before an Easter egg hunt in the snow that my wife Andrea and
daughter Nicole put together for Shane’s three year old daughter Ayla and a
bunch of the community kids touched by Shane’s death, I went for a hike up
nearby Shirley Canyon. I climbed up to a ridge overlooking the valley. The
snow was firm and crisp. I didn’t sink in at all. Only the sounds of the
wind in the trees, the rushing creeks fed by snow melt in the burning hot
sun, birds greeting the coming of spring to the mountains. So peaceful,
so beautiful, so home.
Something shiny caught my eye. I bent over to pick it up. It was a pin, a
rhinestone star. I brought it down the mountain and gave it to Ayla, a gift
from her Daddy I said. Sherry put it on her daughter’s sweater. They smiled.
I gave Sherry a God’s Eye I had made. The Huichols have a shaman make a
God’s Eye and put it over a newborn baby’s bed where it hangs for five years
- God’s eye watching over the little one as it grows into its life path. In
the middle of the God’s Eye was yellow yarn, symbolizing the light that
Shane was/is and how he touched people around the world with his joy, his
generosity, his spirit, his love. Now his eye, joined and one with the
Spirit’s eye, will watch over little Ayla.
Shane’s death touches many people. He lived, and died, in his full
integrity, going for the fullest experience of being alive that he could
find. He lived his dream. He died doing so as well.
“There comes a time when one must risk something, or sit forever with one’s
dreams”. - Trevor Peterson
I feel the stirrings of new life as I look within to see what wants to live
more fully in my own exploration and dreaming. May Shane’s life and passing
feed new possibilities of “going for it” in ways that enrich your life as
well.
With love and gratitude for family, friends, community, and this precious
gift of life we are privileged to share.
Tomás
——————————————————————–
Wakan is a non-profit, spiritual organization that offers products and
services for healing and creative expression based on indigenous wisdom
teachings