"Heather was doing nothing wrong when she was riding. She was a good cyclist, safe, strong."
So writes Gretchen Stahlman in a moving blog post about her friend Heather Boyum, a Fairport teacher and mother of two who was killed in a crash this past weekend. Boyum had been riding her bike on a weekend morning when, according to police, a motorcyclist crashed into her, sending her into the roadway. She was hit by a car and later died.
Police say the drivers of the car was a 23-year-old woman who was driving drunk, and they further allege that the girl's boyfriend was driving the motorcycle and was attempting to flirt with her. Police believe the motorcyclist tried to pass the car on the shoulder of the road, where Boyum had been safely riding.
Stahlman's post is a reminder of how deeply a loss like this can be felt. Stahlman writes:
We talked, we remembered, we prayed, we held hands. We placed pink flowers at the accident site. We ate and we talked about running and we wondered what to do next. We talked about children, Heather’s children, our own children. Many of the MIMs children, those in that next wave of the ripple, asked their mothers not to bike any more.
I understand the fear of children, that their own mother may be lost in such a tragic way. And I understand our own inclination to lay our children’s fears to rest. And our own fears too.
But I don’t think not riding is the take-away lesson from this.
You can read the
entire poignant entry here. The post is public and allows for comments to leave thoughts of appreciation.
