And now he rides an iron horse...

At least he might... My uncle, my wonderful, handsome, kind and generous true cowboy uncle... The details, as were passed to me are that he fell off his horse on December 23rd in the late afternoon. He broke his back and was taken to the hospital in Flagstaff. At least an hour, maybe two, from his ranch.

He had emergency surgery and it was noted that he suffered damage to the T1 region of his spinal cord. The cord , however, was not severed. He was doing fine until a respiratory issue had him sedated and on a ventilator with a tracheotomy.

The news since has both flown by and been shockingly slow...

My father is not the best provider of news so I had to depend on my cousin, this uncles daughter, for updates. I am the source of information for those on my side of the family, my mother and aunt who fondly recall him and his twin as a recent high school graduates, following my father to bullfights and embodying the cowboy spirit  that they must have inherited from their father, my grandfather.

I don't know what will happen to him, for now I picture him surrounded by healing white light, prayers of a kind, images of recovery.

I am taking this hard, not sure why... it may be the fragile mortal coil and my parents and conversations this led to. It may be the recollections of my uncle as one of the few who came to visit us when we lived abroad; handsome with his beautiful new bride... feeling like there was no judgement from him, just a true uncle in the spirit one would love to have... my beaming at his delight that after so many years of not having ridden a horse that I still had my seat, taking my son for his first long ride, going with him to watch my father bullfight.... I suppose I am so full of heartache because I can't think of a solitary bad interaction between my uncle and me, I don't recall him even uttering a negative word about anyone, and perhaps the most touching of all are the kind inquires about my mother after my parent's divorced (a genuine interest in my mother's well being).

Anyway, this renders my heart heavy and so I put this out there as a request to get people to do what they do for people they don't know; prayer, positive thoughts, healing energy.