"I have found the paradox that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love."
We go all our lives hoping and longing for love. The kind of love that stirs the soul and awakens everything within. It allows you to soar and take on the world and well, it is what makes us most alive. Once in a while you come across someone that reminds you that attaining that kind of love isn’t impossible. For me, that person is Eli and Sarah Thompson. Two amazing human beings whose love seems stronger than anything I’ve ever witnessed before. But Friday, August 28th, 2009 the world felt a shocking pang ... Eli had died. Hearts broken from one end of the globe to another but more so, the heart that felt it the hardest is Sarah. I will never understand why truly extraordinary people have to leave us too soon but I know that in the midst of sorrow, the one constant is their love. With a beautiful baby boy growing inside of her and two beautiful daughters surviving their father, I find that Eli, were he able to send us all a message would tell them that life is a beautiful gift and that his greatest moments were spent with them.
We all wake up in the morning with a list of tasks and things that must be done and we may go all day before stopping to see the perfection in our kids or the hope of something so profound as honest love. Sometimes weeks go by before we actually pay attention. I don’t live that way. I know I have heartache and I know I’ve had countless tragedies as so many others have but the one thing I know is this: you cannot pass up an opportunity to love. You cannot forget to tell someone what they mean to you. You can’t get so angry about petty things because what if that person you’re mad at suddenly left you? I can’t fathom another day of unhappiness because I know sorrow has weighed heavily on me. Eli was always this source of life and joy and this unspoken example of always going after what you want. You can’t let life get in the way of living. His motto is something perhaps we can all take from: LIFE IS SHORT, LIVE LARGE!
Here are my thoughts on Eli...
In a perfect world those whose souls and being are beautiful and kind and filled with love would stay with us and never have to leave. Unfortunately, the world we all live in is cruel and unclear. When I was 15 and my mom had just suddenly died, I had to move back into a life I wasn’t particularly comfortable with. I had to leave my mother, who was my world, only to go back to my father’s who, at the tender teenage angst age, wasn’t where I wanted to be. My sister took me under her wing and allowed me to hang out with her and her friends. Soon, her friends became my friends. She had a core group and over the years they all became like another family to me. Two, in particular, Eli and his brother Nato were the ones that gave me the courage to be who I am. Both have this incredible personality, unafraid to go after whatever they want and never look back. While I’m sure they, like the rest of us may have done some things differently, their lives and choices led them to be phenomenal human beings.
On Friday, August 28th Eli Thompson died in a skydiving accident. While some, unfamiliar with the sport, may not be shocked to hear someone died skydiving, it’s actually a lot less common. Especially for Eli. He was the innovator of freeflying, the one who I believe brought the joy back to skydiving. He, along with two other friends Mike Ortiz and Fritz Pfnur took skydiving to a whole new level. They performed stunts and techniques no one had ever seen before and they became legendary in the sport. Eli went on to do a vast array of films, commercials, and even was a host of a show called Stunt Junkies on the Discovery Channel. His presence was always felt and well, he was one of a kind. It’s hard to sum him up because he was everything in so many ways. When you look at living, you would want to look to him. He’s just this 5’4” tall man with a 7’0” personality! Always smiling or laughing, always welcoming to any newcomers, accepting of just about everyone, and he found joy in both his profession and passion and in his most important assets: his wife and children. His wife is due in 3 weeks with their son and though my heart breaks in ways I never imagined, I know that little boy is going to be an even bigger force than his father. It’s inevitable. Eli was married to an extraordinary woman and has two beautiful, strong-minded and amazing little girls. He loved his family the way most people only hope to.
As tears well up in my eyes I think about living and what it really means. It’s so easy to get caught up and take everything for granted but in the end, all we have is love. It doesn’t matter how cliche that may or may not sound but if we can learn to let go of our worries and fears for long enough to experience actual and beautiful love than this life is well lived. When a storm of chaos and tragedy comes your way, like it has for me, I have to fight so hard not to lose the essence of me. So vulnerable, so afraid, so incredibly fragile. All any of us needs is real love - affection, safety, support. So while the world mourns the loss of a truly beautiful man, we have to learn from the mark he’s left behind. When you find love, no matter how challenging it may be, if it’s the real, raw, undeniable love don’t walk away from it. If you don’t have that, find it because in the end it’s the greatest gift life offers.
Please take a moment to donate to his family:
Sarah, Destiny, Tahani and Little Man Thompson
