At the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center, we met a man named Ron who has Lou Gehrig’s disease. Ron was one of the most inspirational people we have ever met in our lives. A former college professor, Ron’s intellectual interests and full, well-lived life made him a fascinating person to talk to. During a few of the nights of our trip, we spent hours at a time talking to him. He told us stories of hitchhiking to Canada and going to Woodstock in the ‘60s; he also spoke passionately about his children.
Ron is a talented writer, and he shared many of his poems and songs with us. We took turns reading his work out loud, and his poetry was powerful, touching, and at times, even humorous - he liked to write about admiring beautiful women and sharing a drink between friends :) Ron also allowed us to read sections of the novel he is currently writing. Because Ron had such a positive attitude and shared his deeply personal creative works with us, we were able to get close to him and learn a lot from him.
The experience also helped us to bond as a group, and we learned a lot about each other as Ron asked us questions about each of our own lives.
On our last night at Crotched Mountain, we ordered two large pizzas and antipasto salads to Ron’s room and ate dinner with him. We listened to more of his writing, and even sang a song altogether. The nights we spent with Ron reminded us that life is precious and must be seen through optimistic eyes; we will all carry a piece of him in our hearts forever.
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