Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Andy Irons

Election day. Things are changing, or maybe not. Things are also changing for the Murray family, and I had planned to write about that. However, as soon as I got online tonight, I discovered that Andy Irons has passed away at age 32.

Andy Irons apparently suffered from symptoms consistent with Dengue Fever, a virus spread by mosquitoes. The virus is apparently endemic in Puerto Rico, a U.S. Territory, and certainly not a remote Sub-Saharan African location we might associate with endemic blood borne pathogens.

Irons is survived by a pregnant wife, and by his brother, also a professional surfer (among others). Irons was a surfer, like me (though obviously a much more accomplished one), an expecting father, and new husband, both of which I've been in the last year. He was also only 32. These are all reasons, that I feel like I could relate to him in some way. I certainly didn't know him, or what it was like to be him. I just know what it was like to be some of the things he was: A brother, a husband, and expectant father.

Irons was famous . . . is famous, that's why we've heard about his passing. The point his death illustrates is that life is fleeting, in old age, or youth. Sometimes, that's just a tough truth to accept.

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