dedication
"One year ago today, June 24, 2003, Susan Hime was doing exactly what she wanted to be doing. She was enjoying a beautiful day in the outdoors, hiking and climbing in the mountains alongside a beautiful lake in a place that she loved. She had camped out the night before, and had taken a series of photographs of the beautiful sunset that she witnessed that last night of her life. In the hours before she died, she had taken pictures of wildflowers, butterflies, the beautiful multicolored rocks at the lakeshore, some ducks, and some passing kayakers that she undoubtedly smiled and waved to. She had left some food for a little ground squirrel that she had befriended at her camp site. All was right in her world.
Susan loved physical exercise, and worked out regularly. The fact that she was climbing up a steep hillside on the day that she died was not a surprise to me; she loved to hike, and climb, and exert herself. We had hiked together many times: Arizona, Idaho, Colorado, New Mexico, even Nepal…Most times, I had a tough time keeping up with her. She was like the Everready Bunny. But she was patient, and would usually wait for me, and would pull me along into adventures that I might not have otherwise taken.
One split second, one tragic misstep, and Susan fell to her death. One moment, all is right in her world, and seconds later-she is gone. They say that you should live your life to it’s fullest every day, because you don’t know what the future holds. Susan has brought this lesson home in a most heartfelt way. If there is any brightness in this sad story, it is that Susan did live her life fully. She engaged people-friends and strangers alike. She traveled. She worked hard, and spent her money. She had close friends from Australia, California, New York, and places in between. She tried to learn Nepalese, and Swahili, and French. She hiked the steep trail to Gandruk to get a glimpse of the awesome peak of Annapurna, and she looked South from the beach at the Cape of Good Hope. She climbed the Eiffel tower, and she drank wine straight from a barrel in Napa. She died doing something that she loved doing, in a place that was close to her heart. She will always be remembered as young, healthy, and beautiful. This sounds like a life well lived.
In dedicating this garden today, my desire is to create a memorial for Susan that will commemorate her lasting contributions to our orthodontic practice, and her influence on all of us who knew her. This garden is to serve as a peaceful place for us to enjoy our lunch, or to share an intimate conversation. It is to provide a nice place for parents to sit with their young children while waiting for their other children to finish their appointment. It is to remind us of Susan, and that we should live each day fully, because we certainly don’t know what is just around the corner. It is to remind us to treat our patients with kindness, patience, and compassion. It is to remind us to smile. It is to help us keep Susan’s memory alive for everyone who comes into contact with our practice. Although Susan is no longer here to provide treatment to our patients, her spirit will flow through us as we continue doing the work that she loved so much.
So, today, let us remember Susan….her laughter, her tenderness, her toughness, her thoroughness, her patience, her aliveness. Let us keep her spirit alive and in our hearts forever. Let us celebrate a life well lived."
David Hime, June 24, 2004
