We're all in this grief boat with no oars.
Just uncharted waters for all of us.
-D'Ann Auty Vermilye
I had not intended to watch any portion of today's New York City Marathon. The bitter taste of last year's unqualified disaster, in which I dropped out at the 15K mark and added an embarrassing "DNF" (2021) to my three finishes in 2015, 2016, and 2017, remains too fresh in my mouth.
However, upon reading this story in the Star-Ledger earlier this week about the tribute that seventy-eight-year-old Jon Auty of North Haledon, New Jersey and his daughter, D'Ann Auty Vermilye, are paying to his wife/her mother, Bev. Today, they are both running the Marathon as a member of Fred's Team. Bev, to whom Jon Auty was married for fifty-four years, died last fall after a six-month battle with cancer.
Jon Auty last ran the New York City Marathon forty years ago. He enjoyed the experience so much that he vowed to never do it again. As it turns out, "never" never stood a chance in its battle against the memory of Bev, Jon Auty's "absolutely perfect wife". Nor should it have.
The Auty family has spent more than their fair share in the grief boat this past twelve months. Although today's Marathon will likely not permit them to retire their grief boat to drydock, it shall provide them with the oars necessary to make the remainder of their voyage just a bit easier.
-AK
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