Two Years

"I believe that we will always have one hand reaching back in time, hoping to feel the touch of that marvelous life, looking back to get a glimpse of the best part of ourselves"... 

2 years ago today Shaun went home. For all who were blessed to love him, June 6th will always mark the date of our hearts darkest tragedy...Death may hold no sting - but living does.
Two years... should that seem like a long time? Should it seem short? Time dances between the two extremes, binding yesterdays to todays. It dulls the sharpness of vivid memory with its lengthy passage, but moves so quickly that the heart remains wholly untouched by time.

And so we love. Regardless of time or space between hearts. And although there's a sting, we can also learn to live.

I love you Shaun. As much today as yesterday... and will love you as much tomorrow. Your eyes were my hearts greatest blessing.
I celebrate you today - all you offered the world. All you offered me.

Tomorrow is a long time...

Tomorrow Is a Long Time - Link to song

...There is beauty in that silver singin' river...

There is beauty in that sunrise in the sky...

But none of these, and nothing else can touch the beauty...
That I remember in my true love's eyes... ~ Bob Dylan

Miss you...

Time with Dad

I had a wonderful weekend with Shaun's Dad, Norm.

I can't quite express how connecting it was to spend a weekend doing nothing but talking, laughing, and crying about our favorite topic. 

Shaun felt closer when Norm was here... the apple didn't fall far.

My heart dropped a bit to see that fabled yellow-jeep of so many of Shaun and Norm's adventures disappear into the fog.  What a precious son, and a precious Dad.  Thank you for sharing your heart Norm, and with it, some precious insights into your sweet son. 

There are some wounds time doesn't heal.
Until Heaven...
We love you. I pray that knowledge is deeply felt in your heart. You have left us aching... but you also left us with a beautiful heart to follow and memories to make us smile at night.
Someday when I find the right words to express the uniqueness of your spirit I can stop trying - but until then - I'll continue to somehow try to thank you for all your heart gives me, simply by being you. And to do a small part to help the world still be impacted by your goodness.

He is with me still... his audible voice is quieted, but my heart can still hear...
Companionship doesn't always come with a warm body... sometimes it's in the quiet of the heart. And when I can find the strength to see beyond this temporal world, I recognize I need never feel lonely.

Birthday Wishes - Nov. 2008

It’s my birthday today. I spent the better part of the day today reading through Shaun’s notes, emails, etc. I’ve avoided much of that over the last couple of months… thinking that it might relieve some pain. It hasn’t… it’s just made things feel… well, empty.
Re-living where we were a year ago today, I have had the biggest smile on my face that I’ve had for months. Granted, there were tears flowing freely, but the sweetness of his heart, his witty charm, chased the darkness out and made me laugh the gut laugh! Like he always has, his humor, his silliness, and his love lit a flame of warmth and light inside me.

Shaun is so clever and delightful with words… but he is also so concerned, real, and humble in his testimony. It seems like his words are more for me right now than they were then…

“I don't understand it all. God tells me I won't understand it all until I'm with Him. Ahh, there it is again... faith. Man that's a tough one. For whatever God has in store for you, I don't know, but I know he'll take care of you for relying on Him. His Grace is sufficient. We all hurry to make our lives something, but I think God's timeline is much different. He's working in our lives through a process of us learning to trust Him. Patience is something I struggle with, seems like it's been long enough, in my eyes. And yet I pray for God's Will to be done...so I must let it be His Will and not mine.”
- Shaun Lunt – 12/01/07

Such a sweet man. He simply and transparently shares words of wisdom.
I wish he were here.
I wish I were there.

Anybody know if Birthday wishes on candles actually come true? Except I didn't actually have a cake... or a candle...

But, as Shaun reminds me even now, faith has to win. God’s timeline is different than my own. Bad days eventually come to an end. Heavenly promises are always kept. He’s working in our lives… be patient… let it be His will and not mine.

Missing you always.
Heidi

Isaiah 41:10 - For the Lord thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee.

Death Valley - April 2008

Death Valley for a little hiking, camping and shooting stuff

Found some wildflowers in the sand dunes and decided to land and pull out the guns...

We shot the .40 S&W, 12-gauge shotgun (my first time shooting clay discs - I didn't stink too bad!), and the .454 Casull (which scared the crap out of me and I only fired it once!). Shaun on the other hand, was a perfect shot, once again...

We took off again to head toward Death Valley and found a really cool dried lake bed to land in. Only the crust was hard, about 1/2 inch below was gooey salty stuff - pretty interesting.

Ah, our little oasis in the desert... Just a few palm trees and a hot spring in the middle of nowhere.

Life is good...
Headed back to Southern California, found a gorgeous canyon to fly up. You can't really tell, but the ground was covered with wildflowers. We landed here and explored for a few... the Super Cub is awesome. But the pilot is even better. :)
Shaun found a lake and did a little Super-Cub-skiing :). Another successful adventure and a fun trip!

Southern Utah - March 2008

Shaun and I met in St. George for one more March adventure of biking, hiking, flying, and shooting stuff.

Shaun biking Gooseberry Mesa - all I know is that it's too hard for the likes of me...

Southern Utah redrock... did I mention I love it?

Shaun landed the Super Cub in some really cool places... I'm sure none of them were illegal.
We landed on the top of a butte and found some rocks that were patiently waiting to be trundled...

... we obliged.

We flew out to the desert and decided it was time to shoot some stuff...
Shaun's targets (radishes, we're eco-friendly)...

MY target... (little bigger, but again, eco-friendly).

I swear - the guy never misses...

Yep - Bought a gun. It's a Kahr .40 and I love it.
Rainy weather grounded us so we naturally turned to our favorite amusement - shootin stuff. We determined that fruit was no longer exciting enough and hit the dollar store for some 'targets'. Shaun decided that we needed a big remote controlled truck so we could have a 'moving target'. By the way, the dollar store doesn't actually sell many things that are a dollar.
We set up our lawn decor, ceramic frogs, exploding soda cans, etc...

Die bird, Die... Shaun is a ridiculously good shot. The bird never had a chance...

Valentine's Day - 2008 (Heidi Brunner and Shaun Lunt)

The coolest, funnest, sweetest, most bestest valentine...
Truly one of the best days of my life. Shaun made it absolutely magical - what a closet romantic!!

Catalina Island - Feb. 2008

Driving to the Redlands airport to go hop in the Supercub and fly to Catalina for the day! :)

Wearing our lifejackets for the water-crossing to Catalina. "Heidi - you know what's funny about safety?? ..... NOTHIN!! Put on your lifejacket!".
Playing a few feet off the ocean surface... ok, I get it now - lifejackets are good.
Shaun gave me the comfy headphones today :). Sweet boy... with a cute nose up there in the corner too.

Cobblestone streets of Catalina. Really picturesque place. We had a perfect day!

I'm pretty much 100% sure that Shaun is one of the most kind and thoughtful men around... just ask him, he'll tell you. ;)

Random picture I took on the back porch for Shaun's medical licensing paperwork... Turned out pretty dang good - guess the subject made it easy. WOW - Adorable...

The Baja Peninsula, Mexico - Jan. 2008

Shaun invited me to go down the Baja and volunteer with him in a clinic. Shaun is an anesthesiologist at a hospital in Loma Linda, and volunteered to work in the O.R. for a few days in San Quintin Mexico, with a group of physicians and nurses called The Flying Samaritans. I got to tag along and had an amazingly cool time doing it!

My handsome pilot... headed south off the coast of Mexico.

Saying Hi to the sea cliffs...

The Piper Super Cub with the Cessna's on the airstrip of San Quintin.

Since the cub has no locking doors (or locking anything for that matter), Shaun decided that a bike lock on the prop would surely deter mexican thieves...

I got to squeeze the bag-thing and breathe for this woman during her surgery. Granted, Shaun had to continually fix my technique so she actually DID breathe, but she lived so it all worked out. :) The good doctor... being a good doctor.
Notice Shaun took over the breathing bag...

Blood shooting everywhere... dogs and cats, living together - MASS HYSTERIA! Playing with sharp instruments inside another human's body... ONLY in Mexico... hee hee.

After spending a few days in San Quintin eating questionable Mexican food from street vendors, we flew south...

We have now established that Heidi and Shaun can read and write - but their accuracy with numbers is in question... 2008.

Another candid shot because Heidi is incapable of judging the allotted time in self-timer mode.

The beach off of some exceptionally windy point on the pacific side of the peninsula, headed south after San Quintin.

Mexican toilets leave splinters...

We found dinner as we walked along the beach... AND some replacement crowns - who needs a dentist??

Shaun's artisic shot at sunset in Alfonsinas. Notice the moon rising behind Shaun's shoulder - beautiful eve.

Another artistic shot - "Hey look over there and act really interested..."

This photo looks rather benign, but it's completely misleading. The water you see around the plane is what remains after a night of flooding and ridiculously high winds. The plane is parked here on the 'runway' in Mexico. When we landed, we were told some stories about a plane being stolen here the week before. And since the supercub is probably about as easy to steal as my bicycle, we felt a little skittish about leaving it unattended for the night. We decided to pitch a tent next to it on the runway and spend the night watching over the cub. Shaun carefully assessed the tide, but noted that due to the full-moon we might experience higher tide than anticipated. We found the highest spot available to us (about 3 inches higher than the rest of the ground) and thought it to be the perfect spot for us to pitch our tent. For some reason, a hurricane decided that THIS was the night to visit Alfonsinas, Mexico. So, we pitched our tent in the growing winds, knowing full-well that sleep would probably be elusive that night. We lay in our sleeping bags, continually marveling at the almost-frightening winds that threatened to bend the poles of our tent. Around 11:30 pm, the winds died down for about 10 seconds. In the quiet, we both heard water lapping... CLOSE water lapping! We peeked out of our tent to discover that the ocean was about a foot away from our tent and closing in quickly. We of course scrambled about, trying to throw all the heavy stuff back out of the tent so we could actually move it - all the while, battling winds that were high enough Shaun was actually concerned it might over-turn the plane! Anyway - I'm waxing a little literary here - sorry - in a nutshell... we moved the tent, and moved the plane... layed around for several more hours, commented on the fierceness of the wind, wiped more sand out of our eyes... Then around 3 am realized that we were again about to be one with the ocean and moved the plane and tent yet again. Sands got worse, wind got worse, the floods got worse... but alas - the not-so-wise men DID pitch their tent upon the sand - it was just higher sand, and we happened to survive. After a COMPLETELY sleepless night, with sand now embedded in every crevice, opening, and pore of our bodies, we hopped in the plane after the gorgeous sunrise and waved goodbye to Alfonsinas, Mexico. Adios.

Sunrise in Alfonsinas.

It was a surprisingly calm morning, and a beautiful sunrise after the hellish night of winds and flooding.

Sunrise - Alfonsinas Mexico. Heidi and Shaun.

Shaun and Heidi were walking along peacefully and he just SNAPPED! A scuffle ensued and he took off after he beat Heidi mercilessly... Don't let the baby face fool you.

Beach strip of Alfonsinas Mexico - GORGEOUS! Until the tsunami anyway...
By the way - all of the Baja pictures are courtesy of the ever-so-handsome Shaun Lunt. He's becoming quite famous for his gorgeous photography taken during his 3-month stint flying around the wilds of Alaska this last summer. Check out his pics at www.shaunlunt.typepad.com